Written by Martin Youngstaff writerReviewed by Felix Ngstaff editor
Written by Martin Youngstaff writer
Reviewed by Felix Ngstaff editor
Florida man pleads guilty for promoting $1.8B ‘HyperFund’ crypto fraud
Latest NewsPublishedJun 18, 2026
Rodney “Bitcoin Rodney” Burton faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.
A 56-year-old Florida resident has pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business in connection with a $1.8 billion fraudulent crypto platform.
as reported by a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, Rodney “Bitcoin Rodney” Burton conspired to provide unlicensed money transmitting services to promote HyperFund, a global wire-fraud scheme.
Kelly O. Hayes, US Attorney for the District of Maryland and agents from the Washington Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit and Homeland Security Investigations, New York, revealed Burton’s guilty plea on Wednesday.
HyperFund is one of the largest crypto fraud schemes, which impacted thousands of investors worldwide. It compares to some of the bigger Ponzi-style collapses in the space, such as OneCoin, which took over $4 billion, and BitConnect, which is estimated to have caused over $2 billion in investor losses.
Prosecutors stated HyperFund falsely promised investors daily passive returns of 0.5% to 1%, claiming the payouts came from crypto-mining revenue it didn’t actually have.
as reported by the plea agreement, from June 2020 to January 2022, Burton promoted HyperFund and used investors’ funds to enrich himself.
Related: Law enforcement freezes $41M connected to $150M crypto Ponzi collapse
Burton also controlled several companies that purported to offer consulting services and personally received at least $7.8 million in proceeds from the operation, as reported by the announcement.
Burton faces five years
In January 2024, federal prosecutors in Maryland revealed charges against two other individuals for orchestrating the scheme. Co-conspirators Sam Lee, a 35-year-old Australian, and Brenda Chunga from Maryland, faced charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud.
Chunga’s sentencing has been delayed multiple times and is now scheduled for June 29, while Lee, the alleged co-founder of HyperFund, has not been found guilty of anything.
HyperCapital was introduced in January 2022 as a DeFi ecosystem, which was relaunched six months later as HyperFund. After several rebrands, the scheme collapsed in November 2022.
Burton faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, and sentencing is scheduled for July 23.
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- Fraud
- Scams
- Court
- Scams & Cybercrime
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