BitMEX yesterday admitted to breaking the Bank Secrecy Act by neglecting to establish adequate anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols on its platform.
According to Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the cryptocurrency exchange pleaded guilty to disregarding the Bank Secrecy Act.
The exchange made a conscious decision not to implement effective measures to prevent money laundering and ensure customer identification, making it susceptible to large-scale illegal activities such as money laundering and sanctions evasion.
This put the integrity of the financial system at risk. The report states that BitMEX’s co-founders, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, knowingly chose not to comply with the law and were aware that AML programs were mandatory for crypto companies.
The company and its executives were aware of their operations in the US, serving US customers, and that they were obligated to have an AML program with a KYC component.
