By: Richard L. Smith
Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced that a state grand jury has returned an indictment against the chief executive officer of a Mercer County-based technology company accused of defrauding investors of more than $1 million through an alleged artificial intelligence trading scheme.
Xiao Hu, also known as Mark Hu, 55, formerly of Princeton and now residing in Orlando, Florida, is charged with multiple offenses, including securities fraud, theft by deception, money laundering, and misconduct by a corporate official.
The charges stem from his role as CEO of Skyline Technologies USA LLC, a company prosecutors say falsely claimed to be developing and operating AI-driven trading and other technology products.
According to a statement released by the Office of the Attorney General, Hu allegedly promoted Skyline as a cutting-edge technology firm using artificial intelligence to generate guaranteed annual returns ranging from 10% to 22%. Authorities allege those representations were false.
Prosecutors contend that between August 2019 and November 2023, Hu persuaded five investors to contribute approximately $400,000 based on claims tied to the supposed AI trading platform.
A sixth investor, identified in court documents as H.M., allegedly invested about $600,000 after being told the funds would support Skyline’s technology development and expansion.
Investigators allege that Skyline had not developed or deployed the AI trading system or other technology products as described to investors.
Instead, authorities claim that most of the funds were either used to make payments to earlier investors — consistent with what prosecutors describe as a Ponzi-style structure — or diverted for Hu’s personal expenses.
The indictment alleges that investor money was used to cover personal costs, including payments toward a new home, luxury vehicles, private school tuition, mortgage obligations, and credit card bills.
Officials from the Division of Criminal Justice and the Office of Securities Fraud and Financial Crimes Prosecutions also emphasized their commitment to protecting the public from financial schemes that capitalize on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.