New York’s attorney general has secured nearly $6 million in settlements from four promoters of the NovaTech and AWS Mining crypto schemes and is separately asking a court to order NovaTech’s founders to pay $1.3 billion.
Attorney General Letitia James announced the agreements on October 22. The four promoters will also be permanently barred from participating in the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries, according to her office.
The two sums represent different legal developments. The settlements create payment obligations for the promoters. The $1.3 billion is an additional request against the founders, rather than a newly announced award of that amount.
The case targeted an investment network
James’s office sued NovaTechFx and AWS Mining in June 2024, alleging that they operated illegal pyramid schemes while marketing crypto trading and mining investments to immigrant communities, particularly Haitian New Yorkers.
The attorney general says more than 11,000 New Yorkers were among hundreds of thousands of investors affected worldwide. Her office described recruitment through prayer groups, social media and WhatsApp chats, where promises of high returns travelled through existing relationships of trust.
That method of distribution matters because an endorsement from a familiar community member can carry a different weight from an anonymous advertisement. It can also make the boundary between a customer sharing an experience and a promoter earning money from recruitment less obvious to the person being approached.
The legal case concerns what was sold and how it operated. The use of crypto terminology does not turn a promised return into independently verified trading or mining income.
Four promoters agreed to payments and bans
The settlements cover Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, Ricardo Roy, Sr., and James Corbett. The attorney general says the disgorgement payments will benefit victims, alongside the permanent industry restrictions.
An announced settlement total is not the same as a statement that every dollar has already been collected or distributed. The timing and amount ultimately reaching individual victims depend on the recovery and distribution process.
That distinction is especially important in a case with a large affected population. Dividing a headline settlement figure by a reported investor count would not establish what any particular person is entitled to receive.
The founders face a separate damages request
The new court request seeks damages and disgorgement from NovaTech founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion. It follows an August 2025 default judgment, according to the attorney general, and still requires the court to determine the requested relief.
A default judgment and a final monetary award are separate procedural steps. Reporting the requested amount as money already recovered would overstate what the announcement establishes.
For readers assessing similar offers, the relevant issue is the source and enforceability of the promised return. Holding an asset in a personal wallet does not verify a third party’s investment business. Our guide to wallet control and recovery explains why control of keys addresses custody, rather than guaranteeing the legitimacy of every transaction a holder chooses to authorise.
The confirmed development is a set of promoter settlements and bans, together with a further court application against the founders. The larger requested recovery remains a question for the legal process.