Rodney Burton, a Miami-based crypto promoter who went by “Bitcoin Rodney” on social media, pleaded guilty on June 15 in US District Court in Maryland to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The charge stems from his role in the HyperFund scheme, a global wire-fraud operation that collected approximately $1.89 billion from investors between June 2020 and January 2022.
His sentencing is scheduled for July 23, 2026. He faces a maximum of five years in federal prison.
Inside the HyperFund scheme
The HyperFund platform pitched itself as a vehicle for generating outsized returns through cryptocurrency mining and related operations. The problem, according to prosecutors: none of those operations actually existed.
HyperFund didn’t limit itself to a single brand, either. The operation cycled through multiple identities, including HyperVerse and HyperCapital. Despite the crypto-adjacent branding, the scheme notably did not offer any actual cryptocurrency tokens, making it less of a crypto project and more of a traditional fraud operation wearing a blockchain costume.
Burton’s role was primarily as a promoter. He leveraged social media to recruit investors, touting significant returns while, according to prosecutors, quietly diverting funds for personal use. He admitted to misappropriating investor money while failing to provide the licensed financial services he was effectively offering.
The scale is staggering. Roughly $1.89 billion flowed into the scheme over approximately 19 months. That’s about $99 million per month in investor funds pouring into an operation with no real underlying business.
The broader crackdown
Burton isn’t the only person facing consequences. The case is part of a multi-year investigation by both the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, launched in early 2024 against the key figures behind HyperFund.
Co-defendant Brenda Chunga, another promoter in the scheme, had already pleaded guilty prior to Burton’s plea. Xue “Sam” Lee, described as a co-founder of the operation, was charged but had not entered a plea as of June 2026.
Burton’s guilty plea represents the second successful prosecution in the case. Whether Sam Lee ultimately faces trial or negotiates his own plea will likely depend in part on what cooperating defendants bring to the table.
What this means for crypto investors
The cycling of brand names, from HyperFund to HyperVerse to HyperCapital, is a tactic worth watching for. Fraudulent operations frequently rebrand to outrun bad press and regulatory attention. When an investment platform changes its name while maintaining the same team and the same pitch, that’s not a pivot. That’s a warning.
Burton’s five-year maximum sentence may strike some as light for a nearly $2 billion fraud. But the conspiracy charge he pleaded to carries a statutory cap, and his cooperation, or lack thereof, with prosecutors going forward could influence where his actual sentence lands within that range.