Robinhood Engineers Charged with Commodities Fraud Over Hyperliquid Trading Scheme

Two former Robinhood engineers have been charged with commodities fraud and wire fraud in connection with an alleged trading scheme.

Hefu Chai, 36, and Huaisong Xiang, 30, allegedly used confidential information about upcoming cryptocurrency listings to trade perpetual futures on Hyperliquid before the announcements became public.

Between 2025 and 2026, the two generated more than $50,000 in profits each by buying perpetual futures linked to tokens that Robinhood planned to list.

The U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said: 'Misappropriating confidential information to trade in the derivatives markets for personal benefit is illegal.'