New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked a state court to order NovaTech’s founders and related companies to pay about $1.37 billion in damages, disgorgement and interest over a cryptocurrency investment scheme that collapsed in 2023. The October 22 filing follows a 2025 default judgment against Cynthia and Eddy Petion and the NovaTech entities, but the amount still requires court approval.

A monetary request after a default judgment

The filing in New York County Supreme Court seeks $1.1345 billion in principal monetary relief tied to NovaTech, plus roughly $232.5 million in prejudgment interest. It also asks for about $1.46 million connected to AWS Mining and approximately $4.69 million against Cynthia Petion for the earlier mining scheme. Together, the requested amounts exceed $1.37 billion. These figures are the attorney general’s requested award, not money already recovered.

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The court entered a default order in August 2025 after the defendants failed to appear or answer the complaint. That order found liability under New York’s Martin Act and other state laws, permanently barred the defaulting defendants from certain securities, commodities and cryptocurrency activities, and left the monetary amount to be set through a written inquest. The latest submission is the state’s calculation for that next step.

How the state calculated the NovaTech claim

According to the filing, investors deposited about $1.1605 billion in cryptocurrency into NovaTech’s CoinPayments wallet between August 2019 and May 2023. The attorney general subtracted approximately $25.99 million that was sent to a trading platform, producing a proposed disgorgement figure of about $1.1345 billion before interest. The submission says NovaTech advertised weekly returns of roughly 2% to 4%, yet only a small portion of deposits reached the trading platform and most of that traded amount was lost.

The state alleges that NovaTech used new investor funds to make withdrawals and recruitment payments rather than generating the promised trading profits. Its 2024 lawsuit said the operation and the earlier AWS Mining program targeted Haitian and other immigrant communities through prayer groups, WhatsApp chats, social media and Creole-language promotions. Reuters reported at the time that the companies were accused of soliciting more than $1 billion while presenting the programs as profitable crypto trading or mining businesses.

Four promoter settlements are separate

James’s office also announced settlements with four promoters. Martin Zizi agreed to pay $2.9 million, Frantz Ciceron $2.05 million, James Corbett $750,000 and Ricardo Roy Sr. $275,861. The combined amount is just under $6 million. Each is permanently barred from participating in securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries, according to the attorney general. Those settlements are distinct from the proposed judgment against the Petions and NovaTech.

Recovery remains uncertain

A judgment and a recovery are not the same outcome. The attorney general says Cynthia and Eddy Petion left the country, and the filing notes that the defendants did not provide the court-ordered investor records or a full accounting. Wallet data also did not identify many recipients by name, limiting the state’s ability to match deposits and withdrawals across individual victims.

The court must decide whether to grant the requested monetary relief and how liability will be allocated. Even if the full amount is awarded, collection will depend on locating assets and enforcing the judgment across jurisdictions. For affected investors, the immediate development is therefore a major enforcement step and four completed promoter settlements—not confirmation that the claimed losses have already been returned.

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