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Five charged with market manipulation of Hydro token worth $2m: US Department of Justice
The US Department of Justice has charged five individuals for allegedly conspiring to manipulate the market in relation to the ERC-20 Hydro token. The indictment charged three people for their role in manipulating the market for Hydro, with two other individuals separately charged for their part in the scheme.
From June 2018 through April 2019, Michael Ross Kane, the former CEO of Hydrogen Technology Corp., Shane Hampton, Hydrogen’s chief of financial engineering, and George Wolvaardt are alleged to have defrauded market participants looking to trade Hydro tokens issued by Hydrogen.
Wolvaardt is accused of designing a trading bot that executed a number of high-value "spoof orders" at obscure intervals to make it appear as though there was high demand for the token, as well as buying and selling large volumes of the token from the same account - known as wash trading.
Following the alleged manipulation of the price of Hydro, the co-conspirators are said to have sold large chunks of their holdings, netting around $2m in profits. Tyler Ostern, the former CEO of Moonwalkers, and Andrew Chorlian, a blockchain engineer from Hydrogen Technology Corp., have also been charged in relation to the alleged manipulation scheme.
Former Hydrogen Technology CEO among those facing prison time
Kane, Hampton, and Wolvaardt have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud. If found guilty on all charges, they each face up to five years imprisonment in relation to the conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation charge, as well as a maximum of 20 years in prison on each of the other charges.
Ostern and Chorlian have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation and wire fraud, and if found guilty, could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
In a related case, Hydrogen Technology Corporation and its former CEO, Michael Ross Kane, have been ordered to pay $2.8m in remedies and civil penalties after a New York District Court Judge ruled against them in a suit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The charges relate to the alleged offer and sale of unregistered securities to retail investors in violation of federal securities laws.