Rodney 'Bitcoin Rodney' Burton, a 56-year-old Miami-based cryptocurrency promoter, has pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business tied to the $1.8 billion HyperFund Ponzi scheme. According to reports from The Block, The Guardian, and 99Bitcoins, the plea was entered in federal court on June 15, 2026, with Burton admitting to conspiracy to provide unlicensed money transmitting services to promote HyperFund between June 2020 and January 2022. Federal prosecutors allege he controlled several companies that purported to offer consulting services while helping market HyperFund to investors, using investor funds for personal enrichment during his involvement. The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes, together with IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Kareem Carter and HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Pete Gizas. Burton faces a maximum prison term of five years for his role in the scheme, though this represents a significant reduction from the decades he faced under the superseding indictment's wire fraud and money laundering charges. As reported by The Guardian, Burton personally received at least $7.85 million from the operation, significantly below the $1.7 billion the SEC alleged HyperFund collected from investors worldwide. Court records reveal that Burton was arrested in January 2024 at Miami International Airport while carrying a one-way ticket to the United Arab Emirates, with a federal judge denying bail citing him as an 'extreme flight risk'. His sentencing is scheduled for July 23, 2026 before U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett.
As reported by The Block, The Guardian, and 99Bitcoins, HyperFund was described as a global fraud operation that promised investors daily returns of 0.5% to 1% from fictitious cryptocurrency mining activities. The platform claimed these payouts came from cryptocurrency mining operations, though prosecutors alleged the company did not generate the mining revenue it advertised. According to 99Bitcoins, HyperFund began marketing itself as a legitimate crypto investment platform around mid-2020, selling tiered memberships promising daily returns of 0.5% to 1% that would double or triple principal within months. The scheme operated from June 2020 to January 2022, with withdrawals starting to get blocked in 2021. The 1% daily return implied account doubling roughly every two and a half months, a payout no legitimate mining operation has ever sustained. Federal authorities valued the scheme at approximately $1.8 billion, while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a January 2024 civil complaint that HyperFund collected about $1.7 billion from investors worldwide. The structure ran on a classic Ponzi mechanism where new deposits paid earlier members, with the scheme collapsing when withdrawals were frozen, leaving losses across its 2020-2022 lifespan. The SEC filed a parallel civil enforcement action in 2024, alleging the platform sold unregistered securities and characterizing it as a $1.7 billion crypto pyramid scheme.
According to Decrypt's reporting, Burton built his online persona as 'Bitcoin Rodney' and employed aggressive marketing tactics to promote HyperFund. He attached celebrity names to his brand, enlisting figures including Jamie Foxx and Rick Ross, and hosted a 2021 Miami crypto conference to project legitimacy. Burton's companies, masquerading as consulting firms, laundered investor funds—including victims in Maryland—while he personally profited at least $7.85 million promoting the platform. The scheme operated under multiple names including HyperCapital, HyperVerse, and HyperTech, with the network marketed aggressively across Asia, Africa, and Latin America during its operational period. As reported by The Guardian, Burton had argued in court filings that co-defendant Sam Lee constructed an "elaborate deception" that misled investors, though Lee denied those claims calling them "baseless." According to 99Bitcoins, Lee, who is currently outside US custody following charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud in January 2024, was the actual architect of HyperFund, while Burton served as a US-based promoter.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, The Block, The Guardian, and 99Bitcoins, Burton faces a maximum prison term of five years for conspiracy to provide unlicensed money transmitting services. Federal authorities have scheduled his sentencing for July 23, 2026, with U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett presiding over the proceedings. The guilty plea covers only the conspiracy count, which carries a maximum sentence of five years, significantly below the decades he faced under the superseding indictment's wire fraud and money laundering charges. As reported by The Guardian, Burton's guilty plea follows earlier action against three HyperFund operators, including co-founder Sam Lee, and adds to a widening list of crypto prosecutions reaching US courts this year. Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the guilty plea alongside investigators from IRS Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations. Separate criminal proceedings against HyperFund co-defendants Sam Lee and Brenda Chunga remain ongoing, with Chunga's sentencing currently scheduled for June 29. Another promoter, Brenda Chunga, known as 'Bitcoin Beautee', has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the DOJ, aiding the investigation led by the IRS Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security.
The case highlights critical regulatory lessons about crypto custody and investment safety. As Decrypt reports, HyperFund members did not control their funds, sending crypto into a pooled account run by operators they could not see or audit. This counterparty exposure is the same risk that has frozen or erased balances in past collapses. The specific charge matters significantly, as Burton pleaded to conspiracy to provide unlicensed money transmitting services, the same federal licensing regime that governs legitimate crypto exchanges, custodians, and stablecoin issuers. The case represents one strand of a broader federal crackdown on crypto fraud, with the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report logging $11.4 billion in cryptocurrency losses from over 181,565 complaints, representing a 21% increase from 2024. Investment scams accounted for $7.2 billion of those losses across 61,559 complaints, with an average reported loss of $62,604. Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs also found that wallets linked to legal action in 2025 received about $158 billion. Officials say cryptocurrency-related scams have caused billions in losses in recent years, with agencies like the DOJ, IRS-CI, and HSI stepping up enforcement against promoters and organizers linked to such schemes. Burton's admissions could bolster restitution claims against other promoters, even those beyond U.S. reach, as regulators have shown that operating unlicensed financial infrastructure in the U.S. crypto market has serious consequences, as demonstrated by the SEC's action against Bittrex.
