BALTIMORE — A Severna Park woman, nicknamed “Bitcoin Beautee,” has pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges.
Brenda Chunga is accused of advertising and promoting a phony online cryptocurrency investment company called HyperFund.
Prosecutors say the scheme was carried out between June 2020 and April 2022.
HyperFund was co-founded by an Australian man named Sam Lee who lives in the United Arab Emirates.
Lee and Chunga, along with others, would allegedly talk clients into buying a HyperFund membership under the false premise of receiving daily returns on their investment.
Investors were duped into believing they would earn double or sometimes even triple the amount they put in.
HyperFund lied claiming payouts would be generated from revenues of large-scale crypto mining operations, when in reality no such thing existed.
In all the feds say Lee, Chunga, and company defrauded their investors of approximately $1.89 billion.
A chunk of Chunga's promotional work for HyperFund was conducted in Maryland. She admitted to personally making $3 million off the conspiracy.
Chunga faces up to five-years behind bars. Prosecutors are also seeking to reclaim all the money she received from the scheme.
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