DOJ and SEC unveil charges in $1.9 billion cryptocurrency fraud scheme

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The U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., June 20, 2023.

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The Department of Justice on Monday announced criminal charges against two people and the guilty plea of a third person for orchestrating a $1.9 billion cryptocurrency fraud scheme known as HyperFund, as well as by other names.

The Securities and Exchange Commission in a related civil action charged two of those individuals for their involvement in the alleged pyramid scheme.

The three defendants charged by the DOJ falsely claimed that investors in HyperFund would receive "substantial returns paid from cryptocurrency mining operations, which did not in fact exist," said acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole ArgentieriÂ of the DOJ's Criminal Division.

Erek Barron, the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, said, "The level of alleged fraud here is staggering."

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.Â

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