# New York seeks $1.37 billion in NovaTech fraud case Author: KriptoMeta Editorial Team Language: English Published: 2026-10-25T11:57:04+03:00 Updated: 2026-10-25T13:58:07+03:00 ![A cracked glass pyramid inside a transparent enclosure, a symbolic image of a crypto fraud case.](https://kriptometa.com/uploads/new-york-novatech-icin-milyar-dolar-istiyor-06021409c416_article.webp) ## Key takeaways - New York asked on October 22 for $1.367 billion from the NovaTech companies and Cynthia and Eddy Petion. The requested amount has not yet been awarded. - The state deducts roughly $26 million sent for trading from $1.161 billion in investor deposits, then adds interest. - Nearly $6 million announced for four promoters comes from separate settlements. Some instalments run through 2029. New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked a court to set the amount payable in the NovaTech case after a 2025 liability ruling. Her office has not announced a completed recovery for investors. New York’s attorney general is seeking $1,367,023,585 including interest from crypto investment business NovaTech, founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion and related companies. The [motion filed on October 22](https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/new-york-v-nova-tech-ltd-et-al-affirmation-2026.pdf) says only a small share of investor deposits went into trading, while purported returns were funded with money from new investors. In a [statement that day](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-secures-nearly-6-million-crypto-scammers-who-targeted), Attorney General Letitia James also announced nearly $6 million in separate promoter settlements for victims’ benefit. She said NovaTech and an earlier business, AWS Mining, affected hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. More than 11,000 New Yorkers lost tens of millions of dollars, according to her office. ## A 2025 liability ruling left the amount to be determined New York filed the lawsuit on June 6, 2024. On August 4, 2025, the court entered a default judgment against defendants who had been served but failed to answer or appear. According to the latest filing, the court held the relevant companies and the Petions jointly and severally liable for the violations and ordered investor damages and the surrender of money obtained through the fraud. The judge left the amounts open until the court could consider written evidence. With its October 22 calculation, the state is asking the court to set the amount payable. James’ office says the couple fled the country. The defendants had not supplied the investor records and [full accounting](https://kriptometa.com/en/organize-crypto-transaction-records) ordered by the court when the motion was prepared. The latest request is part of a civil case; the state has not reported collecting $1.37 billion or obtaining a new criminal conviction. ## How New York calculated the $1.367 billion request The attorney general’s office used records supplied by payment provider CoinPayments. It calculated that investors sent [cryptocurrency](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/cryptocurrency) worth $1,160,544,294 to NovaTech’s wallet between August 15, 2019 and May 23, 2023. NovaTech sent $25,994,603 to trading platform provider B2Broker from August 2019 through April 2023, and its traders lost $18,189,417 of the amount traded, the filing says. New York’s requested NovaTech award, from the October 22 filing. All amounts are in US dollars. | Component | Amount | |---|---| | Identified investor deposits | 1,160,544,294 | | Deduction for money sent for trading | −25,994,603 | | Principal sought | 1,134,549,691 | | Prejudgment interest | 232,473,894 | | Total NovaTech request | 1,367,023,585 | The state argues that withdrawals paid to investors and promoters also came from other investors’ deposits. Its calculation deducts only the full amount sent to B2Broker, with no offset for investor or promoter withdrawals. Disgorgement is the surrender of money obtained through wrongdoing. A separate CoinPayments section labelled “Deposits” contained $68,641,430 that the state excluded because it could not confirm the money came from investors. The filing also says Cynthia Petion authorised at least $134,518,775 in withdrawals to wallets belonging to herself and her husband. Most deposit usernames cannot reliably be matched to individuals, while withdrawal records generally identify [wallet addresses](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/wallet-address) rather than people. Without the missing accounting, the state cannot match most investors’ deposits to their withdrawals. New York separately asks for $1,455,666 including interest from AWS Mining and $4,694,712 for Cynthia Petion’s proceeds from that earlier scheme. The $1.367 billion in the NovaTech table does not combine every request in the case or the four promoter settlements. ## Four promoters have separate settlement obligations James said the settlements require $2.9 million from [Martin Zizi](https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/new-york-v-nova-tech-ltd-et-al-zizi-stipulation-and-consent-2026.pdf), $2.05 million from [Frantz Ciceron](https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/new-york-v-nova-tech-ltd-et-al-ciceron-stipulation-and-consent-2026.pdf), $750,000 from [James Corbett](https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/new-york-v-nova-tech-ltd-et-al-corbett-stipulation-and-consent-2026.pdf) and $275,861 from [Ricardo Roy Sr.](https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/settlements-agreements/new-york-v-nova-tech-ltd-et-al-roy-assurance-of-discontinuance-2026.pdf) The four obligations total $5,975,861. Her office said all four were permanently barred from doing business in securities, commodities and cryptocurrency. The agreements were not all signed in October. Roy’s assurance dates to June 2024, and Zizi’s papers were filed in November 2025. Ciceron’s papers were filed in May 2026 and Corbett’s on October 21, 2026. The four promoters settled without admitting or denying the allegations. Ciceron’s restrictions cover brokerage, investment advice, asset management, promotion and soliciting investors, among other activities. His agreement exempts personal purchases and sales for his own account and says the restrictions are not intended to disqualify him from maintaining his insurance licence and business. Under the agreement, Ciceron must transfer to New York his and related entities’ rights to current and future distributions in the EminiFX case, and pay an additional $1.35 million. He must pay $850,000 within 30 days of the court executing the consent order, followed by four $125,000 instalments to New York, each due by December 31 from 2026 through 2029. **No victim distribution date has been announced.** The $1.367 billion is the amount sought from the court. The nearly $6 million is the total agreed in separate settlements with four people. The attorney general’s office has not said how much of the settlement money has been paid to victims. [The New York attorney general’s October 23 settlement statement](https://x.com/NewYorkStateAG/status/2113736165069074722) ## High-return pitches spread through prayer groups The attorney general’s office says the businesses targeted Haitian and other immigrant communities through prayer groups, social media and WhatsApp, using Haitian Creole advertisements and religious messages. AWS Mining promised monthly returns of 15–20%, a 200% return within 15 months and bonuses for recruiting investors. It collapsed in 2019, after which the Petions launched NovaTech. NovaTech marketed itself as a registered hedge fund broker authorised to trade cryptocurrency in the US, promising weekly returns of 2–4% and withdrawals at any time. The state says its registration and licensing claims were false, and purported returns came from new investors’ deposits rather than trading profits. Paying earlier investors with money from new participants is a Ponzi arrangement; recruitment bonuses were also part of the pyramid scheme. > “they were victims of a pyramid scheme” Letitia James, October 22 statement. Tens of thousands of investors could not withdraw their cryptocurrency after NovaTech collapsed in 2023. The state’s October 22 calculation relies on CoinPayments records and the amount sent to B2Broker. NovaTech had explored moving to another payment service, QuickiPay, in autumn 2022 and directed some investors there. Investigators could not locate QuickiPay to subpoena its records, and the defendants supplied no deposit or withdrawal data for the service. The state could not calculate the amounts routed through QuickiPay.