The U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., June 20, 2023.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The Department of Justice on Monday introduced criminal charges in opposition to two individuals and the responsible plea of a 3rd individual for orchestrating a $1.9 billion cryptocurrency fraud scheme generally known as HyperFund, amongst different names.
The Securities and Exchange Commission in a associated civil motion charged two of these people for his or her involvement in the alleged crypto pyramid scheme.
The three defendants charged by the DOJ falsely claimed that traders in HyperFund would obtain “substantial returns paid from cryptocurrency mining operations, which didn’t in truth exist,” stated appearing Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri of the DOJ’s Criminal Division.
Erek Barron, the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, stated, “The degree of alleged fraud right here is staggering.”
Charged in the prison case had been Sam Lee, an Australian citizen who lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, who’s accused of co-founding Hyperfund, in addition to two HyperFund promoters, Rodney Burton of Miami, and Brenda Chung of Severna Park, Maryland.
Lee, 35, is charged with a single rely of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. Burton, 54, is charged with one rely of conspiracy to function an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise and one other rely of working an unlicensed money-transmitting enterprise.
Both males face a most doable sentence of 5 years in jail if convicted.
Chunga pleaded responsible Monday to at least one rely of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, for which she faces the identical doable most sentence.
HyperFund additionally was generally known as HyperTech, HyperCapital, HyperVerse and HyperNation.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.
Graeme Sloane | Bloomberg | Getty Images
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