US Charges Robinhood Engineers Over Crypto Listing Trades
Prosecutors say each former Robinhood engineer made more than $50,000 by trading crypto-linked futures with confidential company information.
- On Tuesday, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald announced federal charges against former Robinhood Markets Inc. engineers Hefu Chai, 36, and Huaisong Xiang, 30, for allegedly using confidential cryptocurrency listing information to trade perpetual futures on Hyperliquid.
- Chai and Xiang allegedly traded perpetual futures on the decentralized platform Hyperliquid between 2025 and 2026, exploiting nonpublic information about which cryptocurrencies Robinhood Crypto planned to add and when announcements would become public.
- Each engineer allegedly earned more than $50,000 through trades placed before Robinhood Crypto released announcements. Both face one count of commodities fraud and one count of wire fraud, carrying maximum sentences of 10 and 20 years respectively.
- Scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, the defendants are no longer employed by Robinhood Markets. Robert Stahl, a lawyer representing Xiang, stated his client denies the allegations and will "vigorously defend himself in court."
- Robinhood Markets stated it has "zero tolerance for insider trading," while prosecutors noted the case demonstrates federal authority to pursue misuse of corporate crypto information even when trades involve perpetual futures rather than spot tokens.
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The Almanac
Redwood City PulseMenlo Park Robinhood engineer arrested in crypto trading case
Menlo Park resident and Robinhood engineer Hefu Chai was arrested Tuesday on commodities fraud and wire fraud charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. Chai, 36, and fellow engineer Huaisong “Jerry” Xiang, 30, are accused of using confidential information obtained through their work at Robinhood to trade cryptocurrency-linked futures contracts on Hyperliquid. From March 2025 […]
24/7 Wall St.
BizTocRobinhood Sinks 5% After Prosecutors Reportedly Charge Two Former Engineers Over Crypto Trades; Webull Drops 9%
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan just charged two former Robinhood engineers over crypto trades, and the fallout is already hitting brokerages that had nothing to do with it.
US Charges Two Ex-Robinhood Engineers With Fraud Over Crypto Listing Trades
Federal prosecutors have charged two former Robinhood engineers with commodities fraud and wire fraud for allegedly trading perpetual futures on Hyperliquid using confidential information about upcoming cryptocurrency listings, with each profiting more than $50,000.
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