The co-founders—Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed—and Gregory Dwyer, BitMEX’s former business development chief—had previously pled guilty. Prosecutors charged them with violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
Prosecutors charged them for failing to implement AML and KYC programs. Let’s discover more about this important news for BitMEX.
BitMEX Founders Cleared After Pardons for Money Laundering Charges
The charges stemmed from BitMEX’s operations, which prosecutors accused of enabling money laundering and operating a platform that allowed U.S. customers to trade despite the company’s claims of withdrawing from the U.S. market. The Department of Justice had painted BitMEX as a “money laundering platform,” a claim that raised eyebrows in the crypto world.
As part of their sentences, the court gave the founders probation and ordered them to pay civil fines totaling $30 million. This follows a lawsuit filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Dwyer received 12 months of probation and was fined $150,000. The legal cloud that hung over the BitMEX co-founders left a lasting mark, but the pardons have cleared their names.
Congratulations to Arthur, Ben, Sam and Greg https://t.co/rOebCaBbeB
— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) March 28, 2025
The pardons were issued on Thursday. This is more than three months after BitMEX agreed to pay a hefty fine of $100 million for its violations. In the aftermath, Hayes tweeted a simple message: “Thank you POTUS,” while Delo expressed his gratitude, calling the charges against BitMEX “wrongful.”
Delo Calls Trump’s Pardon a Vindication Amid BitMEX Legal Battle
“This full and unconditional pardon by President Trump is a vindication,” Delo said in a statement. He continued, “We were wrongfully made to serve as an example, sacrificed for political reasons, and used to send inconsistent regulatory signals.” In other words, Delo believes the legal action was more about making an example of BitMEX than about justice.
Finally, founded in 2014, BitMEX quickly became a major player in the crypto exchange world. But, prosecutors allege that the co-founders knew they were breaking U.S. laws. Prosecutors accused them of turning a blind eye to the requirement of implementing AML and KYC policies. This will allow U.S. customers to access the platform.
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