Hydrogen Technology executives sentenced to jail for price manipulation

Two Hydrogen technology executives - CEO Michael Kane and Head of Financial Engineering Shane Hampton - were sentenced to jail for manipulating the price of the HYDRO token.

The US Department of Justice sentenced the former executive for three years and nine months, while the latter was sentenced for two years and eleven months. The Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Nicole M. Argentieri, said,

“In this case, for the first time, a jury in a federal criminal trial found that a cryptocurrency was a security and that manipulating cryptocurrency prices was securities fraud.”

The executives roped in a South African firm, Moonwalkers Trading Limited, to manipulate the price of HYDRO on a US-based crypto exchange via a 'bot.' They apparently flooded the market with fake and fraudulent orders from October 2018 to April 2019.

Together, they executed approximately $7 million in ‘wash trades’ and placed over $300 million in ‘spoof trades’ for HYDRO through the bot. In retrospect, they made around $2 million in profits by selling HYDRO for around ten months.

Florida resident convicted for home invasions to steal crypto

St. Felix, a resident from Florida was convicted this week for breaking into US citizens’ homes, violently kidnapping and assaulting them, and stealing their Bitcoin and other crypto assets.

Sandra Hairstone, US attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina said,

“The victims in this case suffered a horrible, painful experience that no citizen should have to endure. The defendant and his co-conspirators acted purely out of greed and callously terrorized those they targeted.”

St. Felix faced nine counts revolving around conspiracy, kidnapping, Hobbs Act robbery, wire fraud, and brandishing a firearm to help carry out his crypto-targeted crimes.

Felix and his conspirators carried out home invasions across multiple states, including North Carolina, Florida, Texas, and New York.

They used physical violence to intimidate victims and force them to transfer their crypto holdings to them.

Crypto investment platform Abra to return $82 million to customers

Crypto investment platform Abra and its executive, William 'Bill' Barhydt, have settled with 25 state financial regulators for running its mobile app sans an official license.

As a part of the settlement, the firm will return around $82.1 million in crypto to American customers. Abra has also agreed to put an end to accepting crypto allocations from all US customers.

Furthermore, the executive has agreed not to take part "in any capacity" in the business pertaining to money transmitting in any of the 25 settling states. He is only eligible to be a passive investor.

CSBS Chair and Washington State Department of Financial Institutions Director Charlie Clark asserted,

"Companies that do not operate within the bounds of state laws will be held accountable."