TL;DR Breakdown
- Bitmex Co-founder and other executives in crisis.
- Firm’s executives allowed customers to trade without identifying information.
One of the cofounders of BitMEX derivative exchange, Ben Delo has landed in trouble for breaching the Bank Secrecy Act. He wàs arraigned in a U.S. court where he was alleged of conspiring to violate Bank laws.
The BitMEX co-founder, a British citizen, was declared wanted for defying the U.S. anti-money laundering laws. He was flown from the U.K. to the U.S. today to be arraigned by federal prosecutors alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
Delo pleaded not guilty to failing to implement the Anti-money-laundering (AML) at BitMEX as well as conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act.
BitMEX co-founder and other executives in trouble
Delo is not the only BitMEX Co-founder in trouble, as others are scattered around the globe trying to free themselves from impending lawsuits and a possible prison sentence.
Delo is the second BitMEX executive to be arraigned on such charges. The firm’s ex-CTO, Samuel Reed, was arrested last year and released on bail also. Two other executives of the firm who have been indicted remain at large.
The firm’s ex-CEO, Arthur Hayes, who is also in trouble, has been negotiating his surrender with Singapore. He has been residing there since October. In a February hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Greenwood told the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York that she expected Hayes to surrender in Hawaii on the 6th of April.
The firm’s head of business development who has taken a leave of absence from the firm since 2020, Greg Dwyer, also is reported to be in hiding in Bermuda as authorities are working on extraditing him from the Caribbean country.
The firm top officers have been indicted for allowing customers to trade on their platform without identifying information. Their failure to implement AML and KYC checks has made them a vehicle for money laundering and sanction violation.
One argument against Delo was that he communicated with a customer who identified himself as an Iranian, a country subject to U.S. sanction. The lawyer noted the defendant failed to implement an AML program.
BitMEX amidst this travail remains a popular crypto exchange and one of the topmost exchanges to store and trade crypto.
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