New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued NovaTech FX, AWS Mining and Eddie and Cynthia Petion for fraud.

Through NovaTech FX and AWS Mining, the NYAG alleges the Petions “defrauded thousands of investors worldwide out of over a billion dollars”.

Named defendants in the NYAG’s NovaTech FX fraud case are:

  • Nova Tech LTD, St. Vincent and Grenadines shell company
  • NovaTech Advisors LLC, Florida shell company
  • NovaPay LLC, Florida shell company used to launder NovaTech FX investor funds
  • AWS Mining PTY LTD
  • Eddy Petion, AWS Mining promoter and owner of NovaTech FX
  • Cynthia Petion, AWS Mining promoter and owner of NovaTech FX
  • Martin Zizi, Georgia resident and top AWS Mining & NovaTech FX promoter with over 140,000 investors in his downline
  • Trinity of Success, Georgia shell company owned by Martin Zizi and used to launder NovaTech FX funds
  • Positive Vision Marketing LLC, Georgia shell company owned by Martin Zizi and used to launder NovaTech FX funds
  • James Corbett, New York resident and top AWS Mining & NovaTech FX promoter with over 100,000 in his downline

  • Frantz Ciceron, New York resident and top AWS Mining & NovaTech FX promoter with over 60,000 in his downline
  • Kings Multi Services Agency LLC, New York shell company owned by Frantz Ciceron and used to launder NovaTech FX funds

As per the NYAG’s filed June 6th Complaint, both AWS Mining and NovaTech FX were MLM crypto Ponzi schemes.

Each was a pyramid scheme where promoters who invested in the scheme earned cryptocurrency for recruiting others to do the same.

Cynthia Petion made $3 million from AWS Mining, mostly from recruitment bonuses, while most investors recruited by them lost almost the entirety of their investments.

NovaTech was also a Ponzi scheme where investors were promised profits from cryptocurrency trading but were paid from
the cryptocurrency assets of other investors.

BehindMLM confirmed as much in 2018 and 2019, as per our published AWS Mining and NovaTech FX reviews.

The Petions went on to launch NovaTech FX after AWS Mining collapsed in 2019.

Defendants falsely marketed NovaTech as “a registered hedge fund broker” and a financial advisor, fraudulently misrepresented that NovaTech was licensed to trade cryptocurrency in the U.S. and forex abroad.

But Defendants’ representations about NovaTech were materially false and misleading. NovaTech was not licensed by any regulatory entity in the U.S. or abroad and did not generate profits from trading sufficient to pay the announced weekly ROI or recruitment bonuses.

As alleged by the NYAG, NovaTech FX defrauded consumers out of over a billion dollars.

Of that amount only $26 million was used to trade. NovaTech’s actual trading activities generated $18 million in losses.

NovaTech publicized fake performance reports depicting purported weekly trading profits on the investor portal on its website

Meanwhile throughout its run, NovaTech FX’s Ponzi ROI liability blew out to over $3 billion.

The funds used to pay investors came from NovaTech’s wallets at its payment processor and were not profits from trading but funds deposited by other investors.

When investors brought up BehindMLM’s published due-diligence, they were removed from internal group chats.

Defendants Corbett, Zizi, and Ciceron went to great lengths to assure investors of NovaTech’s legitimacy.

They dismissed allegations that NovaTech was a fraud and a Ponzi scheme and told investors to ignore all criticism of NovaTech as “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” emanating from competitors, and some promoters appealed to the piety of their investors proclaiming, “Faith over Fear!”

In a January 10, 2023, YouTube interview with Ponzi Patrol, Corbett similarly stated that “they’re not running a Ponzi scheme, I know these people, I know they’re trading with the funds.”

Investors critical of NovaTech were summarily removed from WhatsApp group chats.

Perhaps the most egregious claim made about NovaTech FX, was Cynthia Petion endorsing a purported FBI legitimacy report in 2022.

In a September 22, 2022 YouTube video, titled NovaTech CEO Cynthia Petion Answers Questions, where Cynthia Petion suggested that an FBI agent prepared a 700-page report regarding NovaTech’s legitimacy and gave NovaTech a clean bill of health.

The video about the alleged but now destroyed FBI report declaring NovaTech “a good company” was viewed almost 16,000 times.

There of course never was an FBI legitimacy report.

As part of their conspiracy to defraud consumers, the Petions targeted Haitians and exploited religious beliefs.

Defendants carried out their schemes by also engaging in an affinity fraud which targeted investors of Haitian descent, promoting the schemes to investors in the Creole language, and preying on their victims’ religious faith.

The victims trusted Defendants, most of whom came from the Haitian community themselves.

Cynthia Petion even went so far as to dub herself “The Reverend CEO”.

The Petions marketed NovaTech FX on the premise it was “God’s vision”.

[Cynthia Petion] proclaimed that “Jesus was … the best affiliate marketer in the world” and declared that “the idea to form Nova Tech came to me in a vision, a message from God…” and that “literally this came to me while brushing my teeth because [God] likes to speak to me when he thinks I am listening.”

However, in private chats with Defendant Zizi, Cynthia Petion called herself the “Zookeeper,” her investors “a cult,” and rejected Zizi’s suggestion that NovaTech was like a country club:

“In a club people know what they are signing up for” while in NovaTech “people join and follow mindlessly… They don’t think. They just agree with everything you say.”

As part of his efforts to defraud consumers, Martin Zizi likened Cynthia Petion to Harriot Tubman.

Defendant Zizi reinforced the idea of Defendant Cynthia Petion being a “visionary” and a hero to his downlines and even likened her to Harriot Tubman freeing people from slavery: “Remember that Novatech has opened the door to financial freedom for us.

Cynthia had a vision that has turned into reality and has helped thousands to see the light and follow the [trading platform to financial freedom] … Cynthia is our Harriett [Tubman] and through her vision has created ways within the wilderness.”

Zizi and Frantz Ciceron (right), coined the phrase ““A team that prays together stays together & grows together.”

NovaTech FX began to collapse in 2022, prompting the Petions to flee the US.

In June 2022, Defendants Petion secretly sold their house in Florida and fled to Panama.

Defendant Cynthia Petion wanted “everyone to still think we’re in FL,” and told Defendant Zizi to “leave the country…they can’t serve you if they can’t find you lol.”

Shortly after Defendants Petion left the U.S., the NovaTech scheme began to unravel.

NovaTech FX investors first experienced withdrawal problems in October 2022. By February 2023 BehindMLM had called NovaTech FX’s collapse.

NovaTech failed to return cryptocurrency deposited by investors and tens of thousands of investors were left with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

Defendants Petion transferred tens of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency out of NovaTech.

Defendants Zizi, Corbett, and Ciceron, individually and through their entities, made off with millions of dollars in recruitment payments and profits.

Defendant Ciceron invested $7,500 over time and withdrew over $3 million from NovaTech.

Defendant Corbett invested approximately $25,000 over time and withdrew over $800,000 from NovaTech.

Defendant Zizi invested approximately $200,000 over time and withdrew over $3 million from NovaTech.

As NovaTech FX collapsed, Zizi grew tired of his victims complaining and told them to stop “whining”.

Defendant Zizi told investors unable to withdraw to stop “whining” because their money now belonged to NovaTech:

For those of you with 6 months and older … saying “MY MONEY”. It is no longer “YOUR MONEY”, it is “THEIR MONEY”. Now, you might say, I did not withdraw my seed money.

Well, that is your choice, you can withdraw it if you want but you are the one who decided to leave it there…

Citing multiple violations of New York General Business Law across ten causes of action, the NYAG has charged the defendants with:

  • securities fraud
  • commodities fraud
  • failure to register (Martin Act)
  • operation of a “chain distribution scheme” (Martin Act)
  • repeated and persistent fraud and
  • repeated and persistent illegality

The NYAG’s Complaint seeks a permanent injunction against the defendants, prohibiting further securities and commodities fraud violations.

Damages, disgorgement, restitution and legal costs are also being sought.

The NYAG’s Complaint suggests defendants Corbett and Zizi are cooperating with NYAG. The Petions remain at large in Panama.

In addition to New York, Washington filed fraud charges against NovaTech FX and the Petions last November. It’s expected federal charges related to NovaTech FX will be filed at some point.

While the Petions are obviously in hiding, worth noting is Panama has had an extradition treaty with the US since 1904.

Pending further updates, we’ll keep you posted.

 

Update 13th August 2024 – The SEC has sued NovaTech FX, alleging over $650 million in securities fraud.