A 56-year-old Florida man has pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business tied to HyperFund, a $1.8 billion fraudulent crypto platform.
Rodney "Bitcoin Rodney" Burton, a Miami-based promoter, admitted to conspiring to provide unlicensed money-transmitting services to promote HyperFund, a global wire-fraud scheme.
According to prosecutors, Burton controlled several companies that purported to offer consulting services, and personally received at least $7.8 million in proceeds from the operation.
HyperFund marketed crypto "mining" memberships that promised outsized daily returns, but the payouts were not backed by genuine mining activity. The scheme ultimately collapsed, leaving thousands of investors around the world out of pocket.
Among the largest crypto frauds
HyperFund ranks among the largest crypto fraud schemes to date. It draws comparison to other major Ponzi-style collapses in the industry, including OneCoin, which took in more than $4 billion, and BitConnect, estimated to have caused over $2 billion in investor losses.
The guilty plea adds to a growing list of enforcement actions against crypto Ponzi and fraud operators, as regulators and prosecutors continue to pursue cases stemming from the sector's earlier boom years.