Cynthia Petion claimed she had a “vision from God” while brushing her teeth that inspired her to create a crypto investment platform. In 2019, she founded NovaTechFX and appointed herself “Reverend CEO,” targeting churchgoing Haitian-Americans with promises of up to 200% returns within a year.
Over three years, investigators say Petion and her husband, Eddy, amassed $1 billion in cryptocurrency investments through a Ponzi scheme that exploited tens of thousands of primarily poor immigrant investors, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James. As the scheme neared collapse in 2022, the Petions sold their Florida home and moved to Panama before NovaTechFX fell apart.
On Thursday, James filed a lawsuit against the Petions and NovaTech executives, seeking to recover lost funds and to bar them from future investment activities in New York. The lawsuit claims they preyed on vulnerable investors by promoting financial freedom and targeting those least able to afford losses. Cynthia Petion is quoted as acknowledging that the poor are the main investors in such schemes.
Despite presenting herself as a devout caretaker of investors’ money, calling Jesus “the best affiliate marketer in the world,” Petion privately mocked investors as mindless followers, describing them as sheep and herself as a “zookeeper.” She believed people would only believe in NovaTech when they saw her wealth, like her driving a Bentley.
The NovaTech scam followed a previous scheme, AWS Mining, which also promised high returns from a supposed crypto-mining operation in Paraguay but was actually another Ponzi scheme. As AWS Mining collapsed, Petion and her team staged fake emergencies to mislead investors.
James’ lawsuit highlights that NovaTech continued targeting religious Haitians, promising high returns and advertising in Haitian Creole. Of the nearly $1 billion collected, only about $26 million was invested, with the rest used to pay earlier investors or kept by the scheme’s operators. By 2022, several states had issued cease-and-desist orders against NovaTech for unlicensed investment activities, and international authorities also moved to block its operations.
In May 2023, NovaTech collapsed, leaving investors unable to withdraw their money. James’ lawsuit includes stories of New York investors, such as a retired bus driver on disability who lost $200,000. In total, 11,000 New Yorkers were identified as victims.
Earlier this year, investors filed a $2 billion lawsuit against the Petions. Cynthia Petion responded on Instagram, claiming efforts were underway to return the funds, but many investors reported receiving no responses to their inquiries.
