Crypto Scammers Who Used Prayer Groups to Lure Victims Must Pay $1.3 Billion, Says New York

New York Attorney General Letitia James wants the founders of collapsed crypto trading platform NovaTech to pay nearly $1.4 billion. Collecting it may be another matter: The couple has fled the country, according to James.

In a filing in New York County Supreme Court on Thursday, James’ office asked a judge to order Cynthia and Eddy Petion, NovaTech and related companies to pay about $1.37 billion in damages, disgorgement, and interest.

The request follows an August 2025 default judgment issued after the Petions fled the U.S. and failed to respond to the state’s lawsuit. That judgment also banned them from the securities, commodities and crypto industries.

James also announced settlements totaling nearly $6 million with four of the scheme’s top promoters: Martin Zizi, Frantz Ciceron, Ricardo Roy Sr,. and James Corbett. They’ll pay the money to benefit victims and are permanently barred from those industries.

James first sued NovaTech and AWS Mining in June 2024, alleging they defrauded investors of more than $1 billion. Two months later, the SEC charged the Petions and others over what it called a $650 million fraud.

According to the attorney general’s office, the Petions targeted immigrant communities, particularly Haitian New Yorkers, through prayer groups, social media, and WhatsApp chats, using ads in Haitian Creole and religious messaging. More than 11,000 New Yorkers were among the hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide.

“These scammers targeted immigrant and religious communities with the promise of a better life but instead robbed them of their life savings,” James said in a statement.

NovaTech falsely marketed itself as a registered hedge fund broker licensed to trade crypto in the U.S. and advertised returns of 2% to 4% a week, or more than 140% a year, according to the state.

In reality, it sent just under $26 million to its trading provider between 2019 and 2023 and lost about $18.2 million of it. Weekly payouts and recruiting bonuses came from new investors’ deposits, the state said. When NovaTech collapsed in 2023, tens of thousands of investors couldn’t withdraw their funds.

Data from payment processor CoinPayments shows investors deposited roughly $1.16 billion in crypto into NovaTech’s wallet between August 2019 and May 2023, and Cynthia Petion was the only authorized user on the account. At least $134.5 million went to wallets belonging to the Petions. After subtracting the money sent for trading, the state is seeking about $1.13 billion in disgorgement, plus $232 million in interest.

Before NovaTech, the Petions were top U.S. promoters of AWS Mining, which promised monthly returns of 15% to 20% from crypto mining before collapsing in 2019. Cynthia Petion admitted in a WhatsApp chat to making at least $3 million from that scheme, according to the filing.