Robinhood Engineers Charged with Commodities Fraud Over Crypto Trades
Two former Robinhood engineers have been charged with commodities fraud and wire fraud for allegedly using confidential information to trade cryptocurrency perpetual futures.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York charged Hefu Chai, 36, and Huaisong Xiang, also known as Jerry Xiang, 30, on September 15th.
According to prosecutors, Chai and Xiang used their access to confidential listing information about new cryptocurrency listings on Robinhood's platform to trade perpetual futures positions through Hyperliquid between 2025 and 2026.
The defendants allegedly earned over $50,000 each by trading before the company announced the listings and then closing profitable positions after the prices of related cryptocurrencies rose.