New York Attorney General Letitia James is seeking nearly $1.37 billion from NovaTech founders Cynthia and Eddy Petion, who allegedly collected more than $1.16 billion in cryptocurrency deposits through an investment scheme before fleeing the United States.
According to a court filing made on Thursday, records from CoinPayments show that investors transferred cryptocurrency worth $1.16 billion to NovaTech’s wallet between August 2019 and May 2023.
The filing says at least $134.5 million was then withdrawn to wallets controlled by the Petions. Cynthia Petion authorised those transfers, it alleges.
New York’s attorney general is asking for $1.13 billion in disgorgement, along with $232.5 million in prejudgment interest. The combined claim totals approximately $1.37 billion.
The filing also compares the money placed in NovaTech’s trading operations with the funds deposited by investors. Between August 2019 and April 2023, NovaTech placed $25.99 million with trading platform provider B2Broker. Traders lost $18.19 million of that sum, according to the document.
Prosecutors allege that NovaTech presented payments as trading profits and recruitment bonuses, but funded them with money from new investors rather than genuine trading returns.
The latest request follows a default judgment issued in August 2025, after Cynthia and Eddy Petion failed to respond to the lawsuit. Letitia James’ office said the couple subsequently left the country.
The legal action began in June 2024, when James sued NovaTech and cryptocurrency mining company AWS Mining. She accused both businesses of operating illegal pyramid schemes.
“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,” James said in a statement.
“These scammers targeted immigrant and religious communities with the promise of a better life but instead robbed them of their life savings.”
The case also involves four promoters who have agreed to pay nearly $6 million in disgorgement to compensate victims.
Those four individuals have additionally been permanently prohibited from working in the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries.
