Benjamin Delo
BitMEX co-founder Benjamin Delo avoids jail, receives 30 months probation
Benjamin Delo the co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has been sentenced to 30 months probation for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which is an anti-money laundering law. The sentence, handed down at a federal court in New York on June 15th, follows his guilty plea to charges in February of “willfully failing to establish, implement and maintain an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program” in his role at BitMEX. Prosecutors had argued Delo should serve a year in prison or at least receive a two-year probation along with six months of home detention, as was given to former CEO Arthur Hayes in May. For Delo, his lesser sentence closes the legal saga which started in October 2020 which also saw co-founders Hayes and Samuel Reed along with BitMEX’s first official employee Gregory (Gr...
Court orders BitMEX founders to pay $30M civil penalty
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has ordered a total of $30 million civil monetary penalties from the three co-founders of BitMEX crypto derivatives exchange, including former CEO Arthur Hayes. Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed were each fined $10 million in consent payments according to a statement from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at the conclusion of a court battle on May 5 in which the CFTC said they violated aspects of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations from November 2014 to October 2020. CFTC: Bitmex Co-Founders Ordered to Pay $10 Million Each — db (@tier10k) May 5, 2022 The CFTC filed suit against the exchange and its three co-founders on Oct. 1, 2020. In a rundown of the conclusion of the case today, the Commission st...
BitMEX founders plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations
The founders of crypto exchange BitMEX have pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act after a lengthy litigation process with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). American Arthur Hayes and British Hong Konger Benjamin Delo admitted to “willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an anti-money laundering (AML) program” at their crypto derivatives and futures exchange, BitMEX. BitMEX is a Seychelles-based crypto trading platform that offers crypto futures, derivatives, and margin trading up to 100x. The exchange once offered its services without any know-your-customer (KYC) or AML verification procedures to Americans. The DOJ’s Feb. 24 announcement on the case states that such a lack of regulatory compliance essentially caused BitMEX to become a “money-laundering platform.” ...
