Cryptocurrencies are still quite new, and sometimes they are at the center of legal firsts. Today, we are witnessing one such instance. The US Department of Justice has just made an announcement, and we are already familiar with the details of the charges because the SEC had imposed a million-dollar fine on this company in April 2023. So, what is the nature of the announcement made by the Justice Department?
US Crypto Case Verdict
The court today delivered its verdict for those who planned to manipulate the price of a security related to the purchase of Hydrogen Technology’s cryptocurrency HYDRO and to defraud investors. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, 32-year-old Shane Hampton from Philadelphia served as the head of financial engineering at Hydrogen Technology and was at the helm of the organization necessary to manipulate the price of HYDRO.
“Hampton and his accomplices hired a firm called Moonwalkers Trading Limited from South Africa to operate an automated trading system that manipulated the price of HYDRO on a US cryptocurrency exchange by flooding the market with fake and fraudulent orders from October 2018 to April 2019.”
Hampton and his accomplices carried out about $7 million worth of “wash trades” for HYDRO through a bot and made over $300 million in “fake trades.” During this process, they sold their own assets for more than $1.5 million.
Hampton is to be sentenced on April 29 and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years. The CEO of Hydrogen Technology, Michael Kane, and Hydrogen Technology engineer Andrew Chorlian are awaiting the finalization of their sentences. The CEO of Moonwalkers Trading Limited, Tyler Ostern, has received a two-year prison sentence.
