DOJ Charges Two Robinhood Engineers With Trading Crypto Perpetual Futures on Unannounced Listings
DOJ alleges Robinhood engineers Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang traded Hyperliquid perpetual futures on tokens before Robinhood announced their listings, netting more than $50,000 each.
Why it matters
The charges put a direct claim of employee misuse of listing information against Robinhood's crypto unit and put perps on Hyperliquid in the middle of a federal fraud prosecution. Both outlets describe a single set of DOJ allegations with no reply from Robinhood or the defendants, so the extent of the alleged losses and the firms' own account of the listing process are not established by this evidence.
Key facts
The US Department of Justice charged Robinhood engineers Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang in the Southern District of New York.
Reported by CryptoPotato
Prosecutors allege the two engineers traded crypto perpetual futures on Hyperliquid using non-public information about upcoming Robinhood Crypto listings.
Reported by CryptoPotato
Each defendant allegedly made more than $50,000 from the trades.
50,000 USDReported by CryptoPotato
The DOJ said both men repeated the pattern between 2025 and 2026.
Reported by CryptoPotato
Both men are charged with commodities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, and wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Reported by CryptoPotato
Chai, 36, is from Menlo Park, California, and is set to appear in federal court in Northern California.
Reported by CryptoPotato
Xiang, 30, is from Jersey City, New Jersey, and is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate judge in New York.
Reported by CryptoPotato
The allegations rest on complaints unsealed by the Southern District of New York and a DOJ statement by US Attorney Jamie McDonald.
Reported by CryptoPotato
What happened
The US Department of Justice charged Robinhood engineers Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang in complaints unsealed by the Southern District of New York, alleging they used non-public information about upcoming Robinhood Crypto listings to buy perpetual futures on Hyperliquid. Chai, 36, of Menlo Park, California, and Xiang, 30, of Jersey City, New Jersey, allegedly repeated the pattern between 2025 and 2026, and prosecutors say each made more than $50,000 from the trades. Both men face commodities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, and wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Chai is scheduled to appear in federal court in Northern California and Xiang before a federal magistrate judge in New York. The two outlets covering the story, CryptoPotato and Crypto News, carry the same text and cite the same DOJ announcement, so the set provides no independent confirmation of the allegations. Neither Robinhood's response nor any comment from Chai or Xiang appears in the available reporting.
How the story developed
- First report
First report by CryptoPotato
Robinhood Engineers Charged After Allegedly Trading Crypto on Secret Listing Information
- Update
DOJ charges two Robinhood engineers over alleged front-running of unannounced crypto listings
The Department of Justice unsealed complaints in the Southern District of New York alleging Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang traded Hyperliquid perpetual futures on tokens Robinhood was preparing to list, netting more than $50,000 each between 2025 and 2026.
- Update
Crypto News republishes the DOJ charging story
Crypto News carries the same text as CryptoPotato and adds no independent reporting or new figures.
How coverage built up
Independent sources over time, counted the way the consensus panel counts them: a republication of a wire story does not move the line.
- 20 Sept 2026, 22:16 UTC: CryptoPotato — 1 independent source, 1 reports
Affected entities
Original sources
| Publisher | Report | Role | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| CryptoPotato Crypto media | Robinhood Engineers Charged After Allegedly Trading Crypto on Secret Listing Information | Original | |
| Crypto News (CryptoNews.net) Aggregator | Robinhood Engineers Charged After Allegedly Trading Crypto on Secret Listing Information | Syndicated |
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