On May 20, US District Judge John Koeltl approved former BitMEX CEO and co-founder Hayes’ request to escape imprisonment. This was despite the fact that several US prosecutors suggested that Hayes’ sentence should be tougher in order to convey the message to the entire crypto industry. Arthur Hayes was sentenced to 2 years probation, with the first six months served under home confinement. In late 2020, he and the other BitMEX founders were charged with breaking the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires the institution to authenticate the names of an exchange’s customers.
On May 20 court hearing, Assistant US Attorney Samuel Raymond informed the federal judge that this is a “very serious offence” and added:
“There were real consequences. When individuals like Mr. Hayes operates a platform without anti-money-laundering programs or know-your-customer programs, they become a magnet for people to launder money.”
The Assistant Attorney remarked that such a small term will “send a message to him that the cost of doing business is just a fee, and he can continue to break the law for large sums and pay whatever punishment. Cryptocurrency exchanges and other companies around the world are keeping a careful eye on this issue.”
On the other hand, Hayes accepted full responsibility for his conduct and said he was “ready to turn the page and start again.”
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accused BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed of running a digital asset trading platform without adopting appropriate anti-money laundering measures. The US Federal Reserve accused the crypto exchange of illicit transactions totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. BitMEX was fined $100 million, and the company’s three founders were compelled to quit. Hayes’ attorneys, on the other hand, have just submitted a request for compassion in his upcoming sentence. Arthur Hayes was spared prison despite acknowledging that BitMEX, as a cryptocurrency exchange, failed to prevent money laundering on its platform.
Read more:
- BitMEX unveils spot crypto exchange following $30M fine
- US prosecutors say BitMEX Co-Founder Arthur Hayes should be in jail for more than one year
