Five individuals were charged in Miami for a crypto asset securities manipulation scheme, which was the subject of a lawsuit brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). George Wolvaardt, 38, of Johannesburg, South Africa, Shane Hampton, 31, of Philadelphia, and Michael Kane, 38, of Miami, were alleged to have conspired to manipulate the Hydrogen Technology Corporation’s token, called Hydro, on the Ethereum blockchain platform.

The trio used a trading bot to place false orders, thereby creating false supply and demand appearances, and encouraging traders to transact the token at quantities, prices and frequencies that were not possible. They also placed thousands of wash trades, where the same account bought and sold the token for itself, to add to the appearance of artificial movement. Reliance on these alleged activities earned the trio an estimated $2 million in profits.

In addition, Andrew Chorlian, a blockchain engineer at Hydrogen Technology and based in New York, and former CEO of Moonwalkers Trading Limited, Tyler Ostern, of Coos Bay, Oregon, were charged in connection with the activities.

The SEC filed its own lawsuit against Hydrogen Technology Corp. on April 21 and Kane, the former CEO, was made to pay over $2 million in penalties and remedies. The FBI is investigating the full scope of the case and the trial is being prosecuted by Andrew Jaco, Eric Morales and Scott Armstrong.

Kane, Wolvaardt and Hampton each face five years in prison for the securities price manipulation conspiracy counts and a further 20 for the other counts should they be deemed guilty. The same sentence is being imposed upon Chorlian and Ostern should they also be proven guilty.

Per a statement from the Department of Justice, any individuals who believe they are victims of the alleged crime are urged to contact the Fraud Section’s Victim Witness Unit toll-free at (888) 549-3945 or email them at [email protected]



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