On Thursday, October 22, 2026, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office has recovered nearly $6 million from four top promoters of a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme that targeted Haitian and other immigrant communities and drew in hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide, including more than 11,000 New Yorkers.
The settlements stem from a lawsuit filed in June 2024 against cryptocurrency trading firm NovaTechFx, known as NovaTech, and mining company AWS Mining Pty Ltd. The state alleged that the companies recruited investors through prayer groups, social media and WhatsApp group chats, promising high returns while operating illegal pyramid schemes.
Under the agreements, Martin Zizi will pay $2.9 million, Frantz Ciceron $2.05 million, James Corbett $750,000 and Ricardo Roy Sr. $275,861. The money will be paid as disgorgement for the benefit of victims. All four men are permanently barred from participating in the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries.
The attorney general’s office said it settled claims that the promoters made false and misleading statements in selling securities, in the form of AWS Mining contracts and NovaTech trading packages, acted as unregistered brokers, and took part in an illegal pyramid scheme.
The office also filed an inquest on Thursday asking a court to order NovaTech’s founders, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, to pay $1.3 billion in damages and disgorgement. The request follows a default judgment issued in August 2025, after the couple fled the country. That judgment also permanently banned the Petions from the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries.
According to the attorney general’s office, New Yorkers who invested in the two companies came from across the state, including New York City, Westchester County, Long Island, and Rockland and Orange counties. They lost tens of millions of dollars.
Investigators said AWS Mining and its promoters, including the Petions, promised monthly returns of 15 to 20 percent, 200 percent returns within 15 months, and bonuses for bringing in new investors. The company did not generate enough returns, if any, to cover the promised profits and bonuses, and it collapsed in 2019, leaving investors with millions of dollars in losses.
The Petions then launched NovaTech and recruited investors with similar promises of high returns and recruitment bonuses, the office said. The couple targeted minority and religious communities, particularly Haitian communities, using advertisements in Haitian Creole and religious messages in prayer groups and WhatsApp chats.
The attorney general’s office said the Petions falsely marketed NovaTech as a registered hedge fund broker and misrepresented that it was licensed to trade cryptocurrency in the United States. They advertised trading profits of roughly 2 to 4 percent per week and told investors they could withdraw their funds and profits at any time.
From August 2019 through April 2023, investors deposited more than $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency with NovaTech. Fewer than $26 million was ever traded on the company’s trading platform. When NovaTech collapsed in May 2023, tens of thousands of investors were unable to withdraw their holdings.
In a statement, James said the companies “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.” She said the scammers targeted immigrant and religious communities with promises of a better life and took their life savings. She added that her office remains committed to cracking down on unregistered cryptocurrency dealers and will continue to stand up for New Yorkers targeted by such scams.
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