The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that BitMEX has pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by failing to implement adequate know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) programs from 2015 to 2020.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also charged BitMEX with offering illicit crypto derivative trading services to U.S. customers. Four employees were charged with BSA violations.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated that BitMEX operated without a meaningful AML program, making it a tool for money laundering and sanctions evasion, posing a severe threat to financial system integrity.
FBI Acting Assistant Director Christie M. Curtis added that BitMEX knowingly neglected AML procedures to increase revenue.
Founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, with Gregory Dwyer joining in 2015, the company’s executives previously pleaded guilty to similar charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit is managing the prosecution, with co-founders facing up to five years in prison.
Court documents revealed that BitMEX avoided U.S. laws, requiring only an email address for service access. Executives knew U.S. residents continued using the platform until at least 2018 and that policies to prevent such trading were ineffective. BitMEX also misled a bank to transfer millions through the U.S. financial system.
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