US Department of Justice Files Criminal Charges Against BitMEX Founders

Prosecutors in the United States have filed criminal charges accusing the 4 founders and executives for eluding rules premeditated to halt money laundering. Notably, BitMEX is one of the world’s biggest virtual currency derivatives exchanges.

The United States Department of Justice charged Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, who together initiated BitMEX in 2014. The regulator also charged Gregory Dwyer, its 1st employee and head of business development, with violating the federal Bank Secrecy Act and colluding to encroach upon the prevailing law.

Hayes is a resident of Buffalo, New York, and Hong Kong and is the CEO of BitMEX, while Reed is its CTO of the exchange.

The CFTC filed a different civil lawsuit to stop BitMEX’s United States commodity derivatives business. Notably, BitMEX is short for Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange.

A spokesman from BitMEX’s parent company mentioned,

“We strongly disagree with the US government’s heavy-handed decision to bring these charges, and intend to defend the allegations vigorously.”

Furthermore, prosecutors mentioned that the crypto exchange eventually made itself a money laundering vehicle, including claims it was used to launder takings of a virtual asset hack and that clients from Iran traded on its platform.