U.S. SEC indicts founder of $1.7 billion crypto scam HyperFund on charges of fraud and unregistered securities offering

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced charges of fraud and unregistered securities offerings against the $1.7 billion HyperFund scheme. Xue Lee and Brenda Chunga, known respectively as Sam Lee and Bitcoin Beautee, raised more than $1.7 billion from investors around the world from June 2020 to early 2022, the SEC said in a press release on Monday. Lee and Chunga promoted HyperFund as an opportunity to invest in a profitable mining operation, but in reality it was a pyramid scheme with no real source of revenue, the agency said, adding that both Lee and Chunga were aware of the situation. In 2022, the project fell apart and investors suffered heavy losses. (The Block)