Officials from the US Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that crypto exchange BitMEX pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by “willfully” failing to establish, implement, and maintain “any meaningful” Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program from 2015 to 2020.
According to the allegations, BitMEX allowed customers to register and trade crypto anonymously, sans confirming any information or providing any document verification.
Owing to the neglectful AML/KYC standards BitMEX became a destination for money laundering and sanctions violations, officials said.
As a part of the law evasions, the company also allegedly “lied” to a bank about the purpose and nature of its subsidiary to allow the company to pump “millions of dollars” via the US financial system.
The prosecutors alleged that all this was done to increase the business’s revenue.
Commenting on the latest development, US Attorney Damian Williams asserted that the exchange opened itself up as a vehicle for “large-scale money laundering” and “sanctions evasion schemes.”
That ultimately posed a “serious threat” to the integrity of the financial system. He added,
“Today’s guilty plea indicates again the need for cryptocurrency companies to comply with US law if they take advantage of the US market.”
According to the DOJ statement, responsible parties at BitMEX, or HDR Global Trading Limited, could face up to five years in prison and bear a fine. The exchange is officially incorporated in the Republic of Seychelles.
A couple of years back, a court ordered the founders of the exchange Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed to pay a $30 million civil penalty in a CFTC case.
The executives pleaded guilty to violating AML requirements under the BSA and were sentenced individually to probation in 2022.
