According to PANews, two men have been sentenced by the U.S. Department of Justice for manipulating the price of Hydrogen Technology's cryptocurrency, HYDRO, and defrauding investors. Shane Hampton, a 32-year-old resident of Philadelphia, was sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison, while Michael Kane, a 39-year-old resident of Miami Beach, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.
The Department of Justice stated that this is the first time in a federal criminal trial that cryptocurrency has been recognized as a security, and that manipulating the price of cryptocurrency constitutes securities fraud. Kane and Hampton manipulated the price of HYDRO from October 2018 to April 2019 through the South African company Moonwalkers Trading Limited using trading robots. They conducted approximately $7 million in 'wash trades' and over $300 million in 'fake trades'. They made a profit of about $2 million through manipulation. Kane pleaded guilty in November 2023, and Hampton was convicted by a federal jury in February 2024.
In April of last year, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Justice had filed a lawsuit against five people related to the Hydrogen project, accusing them of participating in the manipulation of token prices.