Story by Ethan
On February 12th, 2026, the arrest of Xiao Hu a.k.a. Mark Hu, age 55, was announced by New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport. Xiao Hu was charged with two counts of second and third-degree Securities Fraud, second-degree Theft by Deception, two counts of second and third-degree Money Laundering, and second-degree Misconduct by a Corporate Official. The arrest and charges against Xiao Hu were a result of an investigation handled by the Division of Criminal Justice assigned to the OSFFCP, Detective Stephen Kircher, Special Investigators Jordan Goodman and Sean McCarthy, New Jersey State Police, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service New York Division.
According to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, from August 2019 until November 2023 Xiao Hu had swindled five victims to invest approximately $400,000 in total into Skyline. The defendant misrepresented Skyline to encourage investors by claiming the company was developing an AI trading tool used to guarantee annual investment returns anywhere between 10% to 22%. Xiao Hu convinced another investor, abbreviated in the indictment as H.M., to invest approximately $600,000 into Skyline by misrepresenting how H.M.’s funds would be used to further the development of the company and specific technology. Xiao Hu accumulated a grand total of approximately $1,000,000 from the victims. However it’s alleged that Skyline did not develop the AI tool or technologies Xiao Hu claimed he was putting the investors’ money into. Majority of the funds instead were laundered by the defendant and used to pay investor returns similar to a “ponzi scheme” format or siphoned off from Skyline for personal use. Allegedly Xiao Hu’s personal purchases included payments towards a house, luxury cards, tuition for private school, mortgage payments, and personal credit card payments.
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office stated that the charges against Xiao Hu are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
