Frantz Ciceron, of Farmingdale, owes $2.05 million and James Corbett, of Mastic Beach, owes $750,000, the New York Attorney General’s office announced Thursday, Oct. 22.
Ciceron and Corbett were part of the NovaTech FX scheme, which preyed on Haitian communities and religious groups in New York City and across the country, according to investigators.
NovaTech founders Eddy and Cynthia Petion recruited investors with promises of guaranteed high returns, eventually convincing their marks to deposit more than $1.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency into NovaTech between August 2019 and April 2023, according to investigators.
Cynthia Petion branded herself as a “Reverend CEO” then revealed in internal chats that NovaTech investors were like “a cult” and would “join and follow mindlessly… They don’t think. They just agree with everything you say,” according to charging documents.
Despite the large investments, NovaTech never even traded $26 million on its platform, the AG’s office said. The operation collapsed in 2023, hundreds of investors were unable to get their money back, and the Petions have since fled the U.S., according to authorities.
A wide variety of state and federal investigators have since opened cases against NovaTech, the Petions, and their alleged accomplices. The settlement announced Thursday applied to four men — Ciceron, Corbett, Martin Zizi, of Kennesaw, GA, and Ricardo Roy Sr., of Queens.
Ciceron's attorney told Newsday he was a lucky early investor who legitimately made money through NovaTech and paid the settlement "voluntarily" after "no finding or admission of wrongdoing."
More than 11,000 New Yorkers lost money in the NovaTech scam and the Petions’ prior failed crypto market, AWS Mining, according to the AG’s office.
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