New York AG seeks $1.37B judgment against NovaTech founders

What happened

New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a state judge on Oct. 22 to order Cynthia and Eddy Petion, NovaTech and related companies to pay about $1.37 billion over the collapsed crypto platform, according to filings described by Decrypt, Unchained and Cointelegraph. The request in New York County Supreme Court covers roughly $1.13 billion in disgorgement and about $232.5 million in prejudgment interest. The judge has not ruled.

The motion follows an Aug. 4, 2025, default judgment that found the Petions and the companies liable after they failed to respond to the lawsuit. The AG's office says the couple left the U.S. The default barred them from the securities, commodities and crypto industries and ordered investor records and a full accounting, which the filing says they have not produced.

James also announced settlements totaling about $5.98 million with four promoters: Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, James Corbett and Ricardo Roy Sr. The payments are $2.9 million from Zizi, about $2.05 million from Ciceron, $750,000 from Corbett and $275,861 from Roy. The money is for victims, and all four accepted permanent industry bans. Unchained reported the total is less than half a percent of the amount sought from the founders and is the only recovery announced.

The filing separately seeks about $6.15 million, including interest, tied to AWS Mining, an earlier scheme, Cointelegraph and crypto.news reported.

Why it matters

The case tests how New York can turn a default liability finding into victim recoveries. More than 11,000 New Yorkers lost tens of millions of dollars through NovaTech and AWS Mining, the AG's office said, while the schemes drew hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide. The state says promoters recruited in Haitian and other immigrant and religious communities through prayer groups, social media, WhatsApp and Haitian Creole ads. Because the founders are outside the U.S. and no asset freeze, receiver or collection plan was described, the requested judgment may not by itself produce money for victims. The action adds to a broader New York enforcement push that recently included a lifetime industry ban for former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.

What the data shows

CoinPayments recorded about $1.16 billion in investor crypto deposits to NovaTech's wallet between August 2019 and May 2023. Records from B2Broker, which supplied the trading platform, show only about $25.99 million reached it for trading, and NovaTech's traders lost about $18.19 million of that. The state subtracted the trading amount to calculate its $1.134 billion disgorgement figure. Cynthia Petion was the only authorized user on the CoinPayments account and approved at least $134.5 million in withdrawals to wallets held by her and Eddy Petion, the filing says. CryptoSlate reported the filing identified at least 204 AWS Mining victims who invested $930,195, based on records from Ciceron.

Background

AWS Mining came first, selling crypto mining contracts with promised monthly returns of 15% to 20% before collapsing in 2019. According to the filing, Cynthia Petion said in a WhatsApp chat that she made at least $3 million from that scheme. The Petions then launched NovaTech, which marketed itself as a registered hedge fund broker licensed to trade crypto in the U.S. and advertised weekly returns of 2% to 4%, or more than 140% a year. The state says those returns were fabricated and that payouts and recruiting bonuses came from new deposits. NovaTech collapsed in 2023, leaving tens of thousands unable to withdraw. James sued in June 2024; the SEC filed a parallel case in August 2024 over a $650 million fraud and obtained a clerk's default in March 2026, Unchained reported.

What is still unclear

It remains unclear whether the court will adopt the requested amount, and the filings and announcement do not describe how New York would collect from the Petions or distribute money to victims. No completed victim payout total or individual distribution date has been provided. CryptoSlate reported most deposit usernames cannot reliably be matched to people without the court-ordered accounting, and most wallet withdrawals do not identify recipients by name. Cointelegraph said the AG's office did not respond to questions about distribution and enforcement before publication.

What to watch

The next developments are the judge's ruling on the monetary request, any collection steps against the Petions or related companies, and progress in the SEC's parallel case. The promoter settlements include installments, but the reports do not provide a completed victim payout schedule.

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