BitMEX exchange pleads guilty to violating AML regulations in the US

The prosecutor of the Southern District of New York Damian Williams specified that the violations took place in 2015-2020 and were related to the activities of the exchange in the United States.

BitMEX faced charges back in the fall of 2020, after which the post of CEO left the founder Arthur Hayes, now known for his analysis of the crypto market and participation in the financing of other crypto projects.

Co-founders Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed and the platform's first employee Gregory Dwyer, who later became head of business development, were also charged.

In February 2022, Hayes and Delo admitted to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act, and the exchange paid a $100 million fine to settle the claims. In March, Reed joined them, while Dwyer refused to plead guilty.

In May of that year, Hayes received six months of house arrest and two years of probation, Case was sentenced to 30 months probation and a $10 million fine.

According to new reports, the company itself has now pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Bank Secrecy Act. According to the prosecutor's office, the platform had long operated in the United States without registering with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and AML program.

In a new statement, Attorney Williams notes that BitMEX has "established itself as a vehicle for large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion, which poses a serious threat to the integrity of the financial system." He also added that the willful refusal to comply with U.S. law allowed the platform to generate additional profits.

"Today's guilty plea once again highlights the need for cryptocurrency companies to comply with U.S. law if they take advantage of the U.S. market," the prosecutor concluded.

Earlier, Changpeng Zhao, founder of the largest crypto exchange Binance, was given 4 months in jail in the US on similar charges. As part of the agreement with the authorities, he left the post of CEO, and the company paid fines for 4.3 billion dollars. During the proceedings, Hayes stated that "the prosecution of Binance and Zhao is absurd and underscores the arbitrary nature of the government's punishment."

BitMEX, founded in 2014, is one of the leading centralized exchange (CEX) platforms for trading cryptocurrency derivatives. Its daily trading volume exceeds $400 million, according to aggregator CoinGecko.