Why did BitMEX's Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo plead guilty?

The transformation of value in the digital age. The Thursday announcement stems from a late-2020 enforcement action. BitMEX founders Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo pleaded guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in federal court on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.

Did Delo & Hayes violate the Bank Secrecy Act?

On February 24, 2022, Delo and Hayes pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an anti-money laundering program at BitMEX. The pair agreed to separately pay a $10 million criminal fine representing pecuniary gain derived from the offense.

Was BitMEX a vehicle for sanctions violations?

Unsurprisingly, BitMEX was also a vehicle for sanctions violations: HAYES and DELO both communicated directly with BitMEX customers who self-identified as being based in Iran, an OFAC-sanctioned jurisdiction, but did nothing to implement an AML or KYC program after doing so.

Is BitMEX a money laundering platform?

As a result of its willful failure to implement AML and KYC programs, BitMEX was in effect a money laundering platform. For example, in May 2018, HAYES was notified of allegations that BitMEX was being used to launder the proceeds of a cryptocurrency hack.