Sam Lee, 35, an Australian citizen residing in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was charged in an indictment unsealed January 29 for allegedly co-founding HyperFund, also known as HyperTech, HyperCapital, HyperVerse, and HyperNation. Rodney Burton, 54, of Miami, and Brenda Chunga, 43, of Severna Park, Maryland, were promotors of HyperFund.
According to court documents, from June 2020 to November 2022, Lee and his co-conspirators allegedly offered and sold investment contracts to the public through HyperFund’s online investment platform. HyperFund’s promotional materials allegedly made various false claims, including that investors who purchased HyperFund “memberships” would receive between 0.5% to 1% daily in passive rewards until the company either doubled or tripled the investor’s initial investment. To convince investors that HyperFund could make such payments, HyperFund allegedly claimed that its payments would be disbursed in part from its revenues from large-scale crypto mining operations, when in truth, HyperFund did not have such operations. Beginning in at least July 2021, HyperFund allegedly began to block investor withdrawals.
Lee is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Burton is charged by criminal complaint with one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. He also faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count. Chunga pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
HSI New York’s El Dorado Task Force and IRS:CI are investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Tian Huang of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron S.J. Zelinsky and Spencer Todd for the District of Maryland are prosecuting the case.