SEC wins over $2m in Hydrogen market manipulation case

Based on recent reports, the Securities and Exchange Commission won a market manipulation case against Hydrogen technologies.

After months of an agonizing court battle, a US court has finally released a judgment on the SEC vs. Hydrogen Corporation and its leader Michael Ross Kane.

In the judgment, the SEC has won, with Hydrogen Corporation required to pay damages amounting to about $2.8 million. 

This case was born in September 2022, when the SEC announced charges of crypto market manipulation associated with Hydrogen Technology Corp and its form head. Another party accused of the collusion was the CEO of Moonwalkers Trading Limited, Tyler Ostern.

The SEC complained that after launching its native token Hydro and distributing it via free methods like airdrop and bounty programs, Hydrogen hired the services of Moonwalker to help manipulate the asset. 

Based on the SEC, Moonwalkers mainly created a “false appearance of robust market activity for Hydro” using a trading bot. This allegedly happened in October 2018, resulting in a gain of over $2 million for Hydrogen Technologies Corp.

On April 21, the court released the final judgment for the case. In the judgment, the court decided Hydrogen must disgorge about $1.5m of net profits earned illegally. Furthermore, the company must pay a further interest of about $244.5k and another $1.04m as a civil penalty. 

This judgment was based on several Securities and Exchange Act sections. The combined sum that Hydrogen should pay to the SEC is a total of $2.76 million based on the terms the parties involved will set. 

The former Hydrogen executive officer Michael Kane will pay $45.8k net profits for the illegalities conducted. He will also pay another $7,300 as interest and $207,000 as a civil penalty. The total amount Kane must pay accumulated to $260,2000.

Furthermore, the judge ruled that the damages for Hydrogen should be settled in 4 installments, while Kane should pay damages within 12 installments.