Now, all three co-founders of BitMEX Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed received the pardons from President Donald Trump. All three of these men were at one time in the midst of federal criminal prosecutions. On Thursday, public authorities announced a series of pardons after the co-founders’ recent guilty pleas to a slew of criminal charges. These charges involved everything from money laundering to not adequately supervising their crypto exchange.
BitMEX, whose owners—including co-founders Hayes, Delo, and Reed—were independently accused of operating an unregistered securities exchange. Prosecutors said it functioned as a “money laundering platform” and evaded U.S. financial laws. Yet the co-founders still suffered severe legal consequences. This was in response to the rumors and accusations that the exchange’s exit from the U.S. market was only a cover story. In 2022, founders of popular crypto exchange BitMEX, Arthur Hayes and Samuel Reed, pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act. In addition to his guilty plea, Reed accepted responsibility by agreeing to pay a $10 million fine.
The co-founders have been criminally indicted. When they take actions against illegal activities on their platform, authorities accuse them of taking too little action. That was enough to make BitMEX a red flag operation to regulators, resulting in the platform’s leadership being charged with money laundering and securities fraud.
The decision to pardon Hayes, Delo, and Reed comes after a protracted legal battle on behalf of trio. Their role in BitMEX had brought them under fire from a combination of federal prosecutors and entire cryptocurrency-loving financial sector. The pardons retroactively erase their past convictions and eliminate any civil or criminal liability stemming from these federal charges.