Arthur Hayes of Bitmex Indicted

Arthur Hayes and other Bitmex executives have been indicted for violating the Bank Secrecy Act said the Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed, and Gregory Dwyer were charged for willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an adequate anti-money laundering (“AML”) program.

The Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said Bitmex has not met its obligations to drive out crime and corruption. He added:

“As alleged, these defendants flouted that obligation and undertook to operate a purportedly ‘off-shore’ crypto exchange while willfully failing to implement and maintain even basic anti-money laundering policies.  

In so doing, they allegedly allowed BitMEX to operate as a platform in the shadows of the financial markets.  Today’s indictment is another push by this Office and our partners at the FBI to bring platforms for money laundering into the light.”

FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr said Bitmex willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act by evading U.S. anti-money laundering requirements and:

“One defendant went as far as to brag the company incorporated in a jurisdiction outside the U.S. because bribing regulators in that jurisdiction cost just ‘a coconut.’”

Bitmex is incorporated in Seychelles with it offering 100x margin trading on bitcoin and eth for years.

The exchange is funded only by bitcoin and has lax AML measures with it requiring just an email and password.

They handle billions in trading volumes a day with the exchange playing a dominant role in the crypto space for years.

Arthur Hayes has made no comments yet on these breaking news developments.

Bitcoin fell from $10,900 to currently below $10,500 while ethereum dropped $20 from nearly $370 to now below $350.