Arthur Hayes, former BitMEX’s CEO, surrendered to U.S. authorities in Hawaii on Tuesday. Hayes, who lived in Singapore, flew to Hawaii to turn himself in on 6th April 2021 before being released on $10 million bail as part of a pre-arranged deal with U.S. prosecutors. Encountering accusations for not taking any measures to stop money laundering at his co-founded crypto exchange BitMEX. He turned himself in six months following the Federal prosecutors filed allegations against him and his associates.
Arthur Hayes’ lawyers proposed his surrender in Hawaii last month. Negotiations centred around Hayes’ possible release subjected to the $10 million bail bond. The discussions also involve his retention of a passport for travel between Singapore and the United States. Additionally, they also discussed the waiver of extradition commonly concurred upon by both parties. Hayes’ representation commenced discussions with the U.S. government after unsealing his indictment in October 2020.
Arthur Hayes Alleged of Violating Bank Secrecy Act
However, the government alleges Hayes of violating the Bank Secrecy Act. They failed to maintain adequate anti-money laundering standards and failing to prevent U.S. residents from accessing the exchange, notwithstanding the company not being listed with the CFTC.
Besides Hayes, the co-owners of BitMex, Ben Delo and Greg Dwyer, and former CTO Samuel Reed are encountering charges filed by the U.S. government about their alleged engagement in failing to stop U.S. residents from accessing the exchange despite it not being registered with the CFTC. They also face accusations of violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to support adequate anti-money laundering rules.
The government detained Samuel Reed in October. Moreover, Delo voluntarily surrendered to authorities in New York last month, with both pleading not guilty and being released on bond. However, Dwyer remains at large. His lawyers claim that they have notified the U.S. government about Dwyer’s whereabouts and plans to fight the charges against him. BitMEX is an exchange for trading cryptocurrency derivatives, like Bitcoin options. As per CoinMarketCap, it is the eight-most-popular crypto derivatives exchange. It has registered $4.4 billion in trading volume in the last 24 hours.
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