Two Robinhood Engineers Charged With Fraud Over Confidential-Data Trading on Hyperliquid

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said on Tuesday, September 15, 2026 (Shahrivar 24, 1405), that it has filed charges against two former Robinhood engineers, Hefu Chai, 36, of Menlo Park, California, and Huaisong Xiang (also known as Jerry Xiang), 30, of Jersey City, New Jersey, for commodities fraud and wire fraud, Arzdigital reported. Prosecutors allege that between 2025 and 2026 (1404 to 1405), the two used non-public information about when Robinhood would add support for new tokens to buy related perpetual futures contracts on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid ahead of public announcements, each profiting more than 50,000 dollars. Chai and Xiang face charges under the Commodity Exchange Act (up to 10 years) and wire fraud (up to 20 years); Robinhood said it has cooperated with the investigation. Under the presumption of innocence, the charges remain allegations until proven.