BitMEX Founder Arrested in New York, Pays $26M in Bail

The U.S. Border patrol has arrested BitMEX’s co-founder, Ben Delo, in a surrender agreement negotiated with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), according to Bloomberg.

A $26M Bail Bond

Delo flew from the United Kingdom to New York, as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors. At the arraignment hearing held today by judge Sarah L. Cave, Delo pleaded “not guilty”.

The co-founder is accused of money-laundering charges, between them, an apparent conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act, a U.S. law that requires all financial institutions to report to governmental agencies to detect money laundering schemes.

The prosecutors released him thanks to a bail bond of $26 million. The terms of his bond allow him to go back to the U.K., where he will wait for his trial.

BitMEX as a “Vehicle for Money Laundering”

The main executives of BitMEX: Ben Delo, Arthur Hayes, Samuel Reed, and Greg Dwyer (head of business development), are under investigation for allowing money-laundering activities with the exchange.

BitMEX is a popular derivative and crypto exchange. The platform doesn’t ask its users to lend credentials. Thus, prosecutors are charging the founders with violating the U.S. Anti-money Laundering act of 2020, as well as operating an unregistered trading platform.

As stated, the founders failed to implement security and identification programs such as KYC (Know Your Customer).

The Second BitMEX Founder Arrested

Delo is not the first founder to be arrested. U.S. authorities charged the three founders in October. According to Bloomberg, federal prosecutors arrested Samuel Reed (CTO) that month, and also released him with a bail bond.

Likewise, the US authorities are negotiating with Arthur Hayes an agreed surrender. Hayes is currently in Singapore, the country where he has resided since October last year.

Moreover, the head of business, Greg Dwyer, is apparently in the Bermudas but is not currently discussing an agreement with Authorities.