Robinhood Engineers Charged With Fraud Over Crypto Listing Trades

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged two Robinhood engineers with commodities fraud and wire fraud on September 15, 2026, alleging the pair used confidential information about upcoming Robinhood Crypto token listings to trade perpetual futures on the Hyperliquid exchange for personal profit, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Hefu Chai, 36, and Huaisong “Jerry” Xiang, 30, each allegedly earned more than $50,000 from the scheme between 2025 and 2026.

Confidential Listing Plans Turned Into a Trading Signal

As Robinhood engineers, Chai and Xiang could see nonpublic information about whether and when Robinhood Crypto planned to add specific cryptocurrencies, prosecutors said. Rather than keeping that knowledge inside the company, the pair allegedly crossed to Hyperliquid and repeatedly bought perpetual futures tied to those same tokens before the listings were announced publicly. Perpetual futures, or perps, let traders speculate on an asset’s price without owning it and, unlike conventional futures, do not expire. The defendants did not need to hold the underlying tokens to place the bets, prosecutors noted.

“Misappropriating confidential information to trade in the derivatives markets for personal benefit is illegal,” U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said in a statement. When the listings became public, prosecutors allege, the positions were already in place.