Florida Man Pleads Guilty in $1.8B HyperFund Crypto
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- Rodney "Bitcoin Rodney" Burton, a 56-year-old Florida resident, pleaded guilty in Maryland federal court to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business tied to the $1.8 billion HyperFund scheme.
- HyperFund falsely promised investors daily passive returns of 0.5% to 1%, claiming payouts came from crypto-mining revenue that didn't actually exist, operating from June 2020 to January 2022.
- Burton personally received at least $7.8 million in proceeds and controlled several consulting companies used to funnel investor funds, according to prosecutors.
- Burton faces a maximum five-year federal prison sentence, with sentencing scheduled for July 23; the plea was announced by US Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland alongside IRS Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations agents.
- The scheme launched as HyperCapital in January 2022, relaunched as HyperFund six months later, and collapsed in November 2022 after several rebrands.
- Co-conspirators Sam Lee, an Australian alleged to be HyperFund's co-founder, and Brenda Chunga of Maryland were charged in January 2024; Chunga's sentencing is set for June 29, while Lee has not been convicted.
Why it matters: Burton faces a maximum five-year sentence for promoting a $1.8 billion fraud that personally netted him at least $7.8 million and impacted thousands of investors — a penalty that looks modest against the scale of the scheme, which prosecutors compare to the OneCoin ($4B+) and BitConnect ($2B+) collapses, while alleged co-founder Sam Lee remains unconvicted.
