Former BitMEX executive pleads guilty to U.S. Bank Secrecy Act violation

Former BitMEX head of business development Greg Dwyer has reached a deal with U.S. authorities and pleaded guilty to a Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) violation. The Wall Street Journal reports.

During the August 8 hearing, Dwyer confirmed that BitMEX had not implemented an anti-money-laundering program. Under the plea deal with prosecutors, the former senior executive will pay a $150 million fine.

“Today’s statement shows that employees who wield authority over cryptocurrency exchanges are no less capable of deliberately ignoring their obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act than the founders of such exchanges,” said prosecutor Damian Williams.

In October 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice charged co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, Samuel Reed, and Dwyer with violations of the Bank Secrety Act.

Separately, the CFTC filed suit against the exchange. The regulator accused its founders of operating an unregistered trading platform and violating KYC/AML procedures.

Delo and Hayes surrendered to U.S. authorities in March and April 2021, respectively. They were released on bail of $20 million and $10 million.

The CFTC’s civil action against the exchange was settled in August 2021, with the firm agreeing to a $100 million penalty and an independent audit. In the same year, Bermuda-based Dwyer agreed to extradition to the United States.

In spring 2022, Reed pleaded guilty to a Bank Secrecy Act violation. The terms of the agreement with authorities included a $10 million fine.

A similar amount will be paid by Delo and Hayes. Hayes avoided a real prison term, was sentenced to two years’ probation with six months of home detention.

In June, Delo was sentenced to 30 months of probation.

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