The alleged founders of the fraudulent enterprises, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, have systematically avoided accountability by failing to appear in court. According to statements released by the Office of the Attorney General, the couple has fled the United States to evade prosecution and civil liability for their roles in orchestrating what authorities have characterized as a sophisticated and predatory international pyramid scheme.
The legal action represents one of the most significant civil enforcement efforts targeting cryptocurrency-related fraud in recent years, highlighting the devastating human and financial toll exacted by bad actors operating within the digital asset ecosystem.
"NovaTech and AWS Mining scammed thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers by telling them they were making a safe investment when in reality, they were victims of a pyramid scheme," Attorney General Letitia James said in a public statement detailing the scope of the operation. "These scammers targeted immigrant and religious communities with the promise of a better life but instead robbed them of their life savings."
The operational playbook utilized by the Petions relied heavily on predatory targeting strategies. Rather than advertising through mainstream financial channels, AWS Mining and later NovaTech leveraged a vast network of personal promoters who infiltrated immigrant communities. The schemes heavily targeted Haitian and other vulnerable populations, using culturally tailored recruitment tactics that included presentations within local prayer groups, coordination through private WhatsApp messaging channels, and promotional advertisements published in Haitian Creole. By wrapping their pitches in the language of faith, community solidarity, and financial empowerment, the promoters built a false sense of trust that lowered the guards of everyday people looking for legitimate ways to secure their financial futures.
The evolution of the fraud unfolded in two distinct phases. Initially, the operation launched under the banner of AWS Mining, a company that sold cryptocurrency mining contracts to unsuspecting buyers. The promoters dangled astronomical promises of financial gain, guaranteeing monthly returns ranging between 15 and 20 percent, alongside a cumulative return of 200 percent within a 15-month period. Under the weight of its own unsustainable economic structure, AWS Mining ultimately collapsed in 2019, leaving a trail of financial devastation in its wake.
Rather than facing regulatory scrutiny or legal consequences, the Petions immediately pivoted to launch a successor scheme known as NovaTech. This new iteration was aggressively marketed to the public as a fully registered hedge fund broker. NovaTech’s marketing materials promised extraordinary weekly trading returns of two to four percent, which compounded to more than 140 percent annually. To the average investor, the slick presentation and steady online account dashboards suggested a highly successful and lucrative enterprise.
However, prosecutors and financial investigators soon uncovered a starkly different reality behind the polished veneer. According to comprehensive forensic records obtained from B2Broker—the firm that supplied NovaTech’s white-label trading platform—the promised high-yield trading returns were entirely fabricated.
An examination of the financial flows revealed that out of the more than $1 billion deposited by eager investors between 2019 and 2023, only a meager $26 million was ever actually deployed into real trading markets. Furthermore, even that small fraction of capital was managed with reckless incompetence, resulting in net trading losses of $18.2 million. The illusion of profitability was maintained entirely through classic Ponzi scheme mechanics. Returns distributed to earlier investors were not funded by legitimate trading profits, but rather by the fresh capital injected by newer recruits.
The house of cards could not sustain itself indefinitely. When NovaTech finally collapsed in mid-2023, tens of thousands of participants discovered that their digital dashboards reflected phantom wealth. When they attempted to withdraw their funds, they were met with endless delays, excuses, and ultimately total radio silence as the platform locked them out entirely.
In addition to seeking the staggering $1.37 billion judgment to achieve comprehensive restitution and penalties, the Attorney General’s office is specifically pursuing $134.5 million that the Petions allegedly siphoned directly from investor funds into their own personal digital wallets. Investigators identified an account solely controlled by Cynthia Petion that was used to channel millions in investor deposits away from the enterprise. Prosecutors are also targeting an additional $4.7 million directly tied to the earlier AWS Mining scheme.
The legal net has already begun closing around the broader infrastructure of the fraud. A default judgment entered by the court in August 2025 formally barred the Petions and their corporate entities from ever participating in the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries again, shutting down any future avenues for them to operate within the financial markets.
While the primary architects remain fugitives abroad, accountability has started catching up to those who helped spread the fraud on the ground. In a separate legal development, four of NovaTech’s top promoters have reached agreements with authorities. They have agreed to pay nearly $6 million in disgorgement to directly compensate victims of the scam, while simultaneously accepting lifetime bans from participating in the securities and cryptocurrency industries.
