Rodney Burton, popularly often known as “Bitcoin Rodney,” pleaded guilty for his position in the $1.8 billion HyperFund cryptocurrency fraud in a federal court docket yesterday, June 16. U.S. Legal professional Kelly O. Hayes introduced the guilty plea alongside Kareem Carter, the IRS Legal Investigation Particular Agent in Cost, and Pete Gizas, the HSI New York Particular Agent in Cost.
The 56-year outdated Miami crypto promoter admitted to at least one depend of conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise.
Below the plea settlement, he admitted to working corporations disguised as consulting corporations however working as unregistered cash transmitters to launder HyperFund investor funds, together with victims in Maryland.
Prosecutors say he personally pocketed a minimum of $7.85 million from the operation, based on the DOJ press launch.
How precisely did the HyperFund scheme work?
HyperFund marketed itself as a official crypto funding platform, promising purchasers of its “memberships” every day passive returns between 0.5% and 1% till their preliminary funding doubled or tripled.
The platform instructed buyers these returns got here from income generated by large-scale cryptocurrency mining operations.
These mining operations didn’t exist, prosecutors mentioned.
The scheme was energetic from June 2020 until early 2022, according to Burton’s plea agreement. Nonetheless, withdrawals began getting blocked in 2021.
A protracted highway to the plea
Federal authorities first arrested Burton in January 2024 at Miami Worldwide Airport. He was carrying a one-way ticket to the United Arab Emirates, based on court docket filings. A federal decide denied bail, calling him an “excessive flight threat,” and he has remained in custody since.
The unique legal grievance in January 2024 charged Burton with two counts tied to unlicensed cash transmission, every carrying as much as 5 years in jail.
By December 2025, a federal grand jury had returned a superseding indictment with 11 counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud, seven counts of cash laundering, and one depend of working an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise, based on a separate DOJ press release from that month.
That expanded indictment alleged Burton spent investor cash on luxurious condos, sports activities vehicles, and a yacht.
The guilty plea entered Tuesday covers the conspiracy depend alone, which carries a most sentence of 5 years. Sentencing is ready for July 23 earlier than U.S. District Choose Richard D. Bennett.
A small a part of a a lot bigger case
Burton was one in all a number of folks charged in reference to HyperFund. The platform’s alleged co-founder, Australian entrepreneur Xue “Sam Lee” Lee, was indicted in January 2024 on conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. Lee stays at massive, based on The Guardian.
Fellow promoter Brenda Chunga, who glided by “Bitcoin Beautee,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud on the identical day Burton was first arrested, the DOJ confirmed. The SEC filed separate civil costs towards each Lee and Chunga for fraud and unregistered securities choices.
Burton had argued in court docket filings that Lee constructed an “elaborate deception” that misled buyers and promoters alike, based on The Guardian. Lee denied these claims, calling them “baseless.”
Federal crypto enforcement continues
The plea comes as federal companies pursue crypto fraud on a number of fronts. The FBI’s 2025 Web Crime Report logged greater than $11 billion in cryptocurrency losses from over 181,000 complaints, a 21% enhance over the prior yr, as Cryptopolitan previously reported.
Bipartisan laws launched in the Home this month would create a Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Activity Power to coordinate investigations throughout the DOJ, FBI, DHS, and Treasury.
Burton’s sentencing shall be watched intently. The five-year most on the conspiracy depend is much under the a long time he confronted beneath the superseding indictment’s wire fraud and cash laundering costs.
