According to Odaily, New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed lawsuits against two cryptocurrency companies, NovaTech and AWS Mining, accusing them of defrauding hundreds of thousands of investors out of over $1 billion. The firms are alleged to have engaged in illegal pyramid schemes, stealing more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency from investors, including 11,000 New Yorkers. James has vowed to ban these companies from operating in New York and to crack down on cryptocurrency fraudsters.
AWS Mining and its promoters, including Panama residents Cynthia and Eddy Petion, had promised high returns to investors through cryptocurrency mining operations. However, the company was unable to sustain the promised returns in the long run and eventually collapsed in 2019. Subsequently, the Petions launched NovaTech, continuing to attract customers with similar strategies, but the profits for investors were actually generated from the funds of new investors.
The prosecutor revealed that the actual amount of cryptocurrency transactions handled by the platform from 2019 to 2023 was only $26 million. This discrepancy between the promised and actual returns has led to the current legal action against the two companies.