Robinhood Engineers Charged with Crypto Listing Front-Running Scheme
Two former Robinhood engineers have been charged with using confidential company information to trade cryptocurrency listings on a separate derivatives platform.
Hefu Chai, 36, and Huaisong Xiang, also known as Jerry Xiang, 30, were accused of commodities fraud and wire fraud for allegedly using their access to nonpublic details about upcoming Robinhood Crypto listings to place trades on Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange.
The alleged scheme involved purchasing perpetual futures tied to the soon-to-be-listed coins between 2025 and 2026. Each defendant is alleged to have made more than $50,000 in profits.
US Attorney Jamie McDonald said the case aims to show that insiders cannot sidestep commodities and securities rules by moving trades into derivatives such as perpetual futures.