A 56-year-old Florida man pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business in connection with a $1.8 billion fraudulent crypto platform.
According to a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, Rodney “Bitcoin Rodney” Burton conspired to provide unlicensed money transfer services to promote HyperFund, a global wire fraud scheme.
Kelly O. Hayes, United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, and Agents of the Washington Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Unit and Homeland Security Investigations, New York, announced On Wednesday, Burton pleaded guilty.
HyperFund is one of the largest cryptocurrency scams that has affected thousands of investors around the world. Compares to some of the bigger ones Ponzi style crashes in the space such as OneCoin, which took over $4 billion, and BitConnect, which is estimated to have caused over $2 billion in losses to investors.
Prosecutors said HyperFund falsely promised investors daily passive returns of 0.5% to 1%, claiming the payouts came from cryptocurrency mining revenues it did not actually own.
According to the plea agreement, from June 2020 to January 2022, Burton promoted HyperFund and used investor funds to enrich himself.
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The release said Burton also controlled several companies that allegedly offered consulting services and personally received at least $7.8 million in proceeds from the operation.
Burton faces five years
In January 2024, federal prosecutors in Maryland announced charges against two other people for running the program. Co-conspirators Sam Lee, a 35-year-old Australian, and Brenda Chunga of Maryland were charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and mail fraud.
Chunga’s sentencing has been repeatedly delayed and is now scheduled for June 29, while Lee, the alleged co-founder of HyperFund, has been found not guilty of anything.
HyperCapital launched in January 2022 as a DeFi ecosystem, which was relaunched six months later as HyperFund. After several rebrandings, the program folded in November 2022.
Burton faces a maximum of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, and is scheduled for July 23.
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