Arthur Hayes, the former chief executive officer of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, was reportedly released on a $10 million bond pending court proceedings in New York. According to an exclusive report by Bloomberg, Hayes had turned himself in Hawaii on 6th April.
Nearly xix months prior to the surrender, the federal prosecutors had levied charges against him along with three other BitMEX executives. All four of the top officials of the cryptocurrency exchange were previously accused of conspiring to evade US laws requiring the implementation of money-laundering controls.
Hayes’ lawyers claimed the former BitMEX CEO to be “self-made entrepreneur who has been wrongly accused of crimes”. They also described him as “Singaporean resident” and stated,
“Mr. Hayes voluntarily appeared in court and looks forward to fighting these unwarranted charges.”
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] first began investigating BitMEX in 2019. According to the prosecutors, instead of working with the US agency, the crypto exchange was allegedly involved in circumventing compliance programs and chose to base the company in Seychelles in a bid to escape regulatory scrutiny.
Along with Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed were each charged with one count of violating the Bank Secrecy Act and one count of conspiring to violate the act. Delo, who happens to be one of the co-founders of BitMEX was released on a $20 million bond after surrendering to the US prosecutors.
The company’s former CTO, Reed, on the other hand, was arrested in Massachusetts on the very same day the charges were disclosed in last October.
BitMEX’s fourth fugitive exec, Gregory Dwyer, had earlier had declined to surrender. On this regard, the lawyers had stated,
“We have been in touch with the government on Mr. Dwyer’s behalf and have informed them of his whereabouts. They are also aware that he has every intention to defend himself in court against these meritless charges and is eager to do so.”