Bitcoin Rodney pleads guilty in HyperFund case tied to $1.8 billion scheme
Miami promoter Rodney Burton admitted to conspiring to run an unlicensed money transmitting business tied to HyperFund, which prosecutors said raised about $1.8 billion to $1.89 billion from investors through false crypto-mining claims.
Rodney “Bitcoin Rodney” Burton, a 56-year-old Miami promoter, pleaded guilty on June 16 in federal court to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business linked to HyperFund, the crypto investment scheme that prosecutors said took in roughly $1.8 billion, with another account putting the figure at $1.89 billion. Burton admitted that purported consulting companies were actually unregistered money transmitters used to launder investor funds, including funds from victims in Maryland, and prosecutors said he personally received at least $7.85 million. HyperFund marketed memberships promising daily returns of 0.5% to 1% from large-scale crypto mining operations that prosecutors said did not exist. He faces a maximum sentence of five years, with sentencing set for July 23 before U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett.
- unlicensed money transmitting business: A money transfer operation that runs without the registration or approvals required by law.
- superseding indictment: A revised formal criminal charge that replaces or expands an earlier indictment.
- HyperFund: A crypto-related investment platform that prosecutors said operated as a fraudulent scheme promising returns from nonexistent mining operations.