Four promoters of an alleged cryptocurrency pyramid scheme have agreed to pay about $5.98 million to settle with New York, and the state is now asking a court for far more from the couple behind it. The Attorney General’s office says it filed a request seeking $1.3 billion from NovaTech’s founders, Cynthia and Eddy Petion. That figure is a request, not an award.
The announcement, dated October 22, 2026, matters most to anyone who put crypto into NovaTech or AWS Mining, and to relatives of investors who never got their money out. The release describes the settlement money as disgorgement for victims, but it lists no claim form and no deadline, so the open question is how, and whether, that money reaches the people who lost it.
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Who settled, and for how much
The Attorney General’s office names four promoters who settled. All four are permanently banned from the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries, and each will pay disgorgement, which means giving up the money earned from the scheme.
- Martin Zizi: $2.9 million
- Frantz Ciceron: $2.05 million
- James Corbett: $750,000
- Ricardo Roy, Sr.: $275,861
Together that comes to roughly $5.98 million. The office sued NovaTechFx and AWS Mining Pty Ltd. in June 2024, and the settlements with the four promoters were announced more than two years later. The release says the money is meant for victims, but it does not name an administrator or a date for payments.
Where the $1.3 billion request stands
The office says it has filed an inquest, a court proceeding to set the amount owed, asking that Cynthia and Eddy Petion be ordered to pay $1.3 billion in damages and disgorgement. It follows a default judgment issued in August 2025, which also barred the couple from the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries. According to the office, the Petions left the country.
No court has yet ordered the $1.3 billion. Until a judge sets an amount, the settlements from the four promoters are the only payments the release describes.
The Attorney General’s release does not say how much of the $1.3 billion could realistically be collected, and it does not say when the court will rule. It also does not say how the $5.98 million from the promoters will be divided among the 11,000-plus New York investors.
How the pitch spread through prayer groups
The Attorney General alleges that the Petions started NovaTech after AWS Mining collapsed in 2019, and that the scheme targeted Haitian New Yorkers through prayer groups, social media and WhatsApp chats, with Haitian Creole ads and faith-based messaging. AWS Mining had promised returns of 15 to 20 percent a month. NovaTech advertised weekly trading profits of roughly 2 to 4 percent and recruitment bonuses, and told investors they could withdraw at any time, the office says.
The release also says NovaTech was presented as a registered hedge fund broker licensed to trade crypto in the United States. Attorney General James said NovaTech and AWS Mining “scammed thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers by telling them they were making a safe investment.”
What the deposit numbers show
More than 11,000 New Yorkers invested, from New York City, Westchester, Long Island, Rockland and Orange counties, and the office says hundreds of thousands of investors were affected worldwide. From August 2019 through April 2023, investors deposited over $1 billion in cryptocurrency with NovaTech. Less than $26 million of it was ever traded.
When NovaTech collapsed in May 2023, tens of thousands of investors could not withdraw their holdings. People who lost money can file a complaint through the Attorney General’s complaint form or call 1-800-771-7755.
Crypto stuck on a platform that stopped paying out?
In the NovaTech case, the state says investors were shown weekly profits and told they could withdraw at any time, until withdrawals stopped in May 2023. People in that position are left needing dates, wallet records and screenshots, and the release lists no claim process to lean on yet.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
