Recently, there was a notable event where the Department of Justice disclosed that they have brought criminal allegations against a pair of people. The Department of Justice obtained a confession of guilt from a third participant involved in an international cryptocurrency fraud operation named HyperFund, which operated under various other names. Concurrently, the Securities and Exchange Commission initiated a civil lawsuit against two people implicated in the supposed cryptocurrency pyramid scheme that failed in 2022. The DOJ and SEC have revealed a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme that defrauded investors of $1.8 billion. Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri from the Criminal Division of the DOJ indicated that the three individuals accused deceitfully led investors to believe they would garner significant profits from non-existent cryptocurrency mining ventures through HyperFund. Erek Barron, the US Attorney for Maryland, characterized the extent of purported fraud in the situation as overwhelming. Further context can be found in the article detailing the guilty plea of the individual involved in the Silk Road affair, which resulted in the confiscation of 8,100 bitcoins. Alternatively, the SEC has filed a lawsuit against Xue Lee (also known as Sam Lee) and Brenda Chunga (operating under the name Bitcoin Beautee) for their involvement in what the commission describes as a deceitful cryptocurrency-based pyramid scheme. This operation reportedly amassed over $1.7 billion from global investors, according to the SEC’s legal action. The SEC accuses Lee and Chunga of marketing “membership” packages for HyperFund between June 2020 and early 2022, with the promise of substantial returns derived from supposed crypto asset mining and affiliations with a top-tier Fortune 500 company. The legal filing contends that Lee and Chunga either knowingly or with gross negligence ignored the true nature of HyperFund as a pyramid scheme without any legitimate earnings, relying solely on the capital invested by new participants. The entire operation unraveled in 2022 when it crashed, leaving those who invested their money without the ability to reclaim their funds. Gurbir S. Grewal, the head of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, commented on the issue: According to the accusations in our lawsuit, Lee and Chunga lured investors with the promise of earnings from mining digital currencies, yet the sole thing HyperFund extracted was money from its investors’ wallets. This instance demonstrates once more that when there is a lack of adherence to regulations in the cryptocurrency industry, it enables scenarios where orchestrators take advantage of the lure of effortless profits, while failing to offer the comprehensive disclosures for investor protection mandated by federal securities law registration requirements.