BitMEX’s CEO arrested Hawaii and later released on a $10 million bond.

BitMEX’s former CEO surrendered in Hawaii and was later released after posting a $10 million bail.

On Tuesday, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes confessed to US authorities in Hawaii, six months after federal prosecutors first charged him and three other BitMEX executives.

Hayes’ lawyers characterised the Singapore resident as “a self-made entrepreneur who has been wrongfully convicted of crimes that he did not commit” in a statement, adding:

“Mr. Hayes voluntarily appeared in court and looks forward to fighting these unwarranted charges.”

Hayes was freed after paying a $10 million bail bond in New York awaiting further proceedings.

Last month, Hayes’ attorneys demanded his surrender in Hawaii. Discussions based on Hayes’ possible release pursuant to a $10 million bail bond, his retention of a visa for travel between Singapore and the United States, and a mutually agreed-upon waiver of extradition.

Since Hayes’ indictment was unsealed in October 2020, his attorneys launched negotiations with the US government.

The government charges Hayes, BitMEX co-owners Ben Delo and Greg Dwyer, and former BitMEX CTO Samuel Reed of breaching the Bank Confidentiality Act by failing to maintain sufficient anti-money laundering protections and by failing to prohibit U.S. nationals from entering the exchange amid the company’s lack of registration with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Reed was arrested in October, and Delo confessed to police in New York last month, pleading not guilty and being released on bail. Dwyer is still at large, but his attorneys say they have told the US government of his whereabouts and plan to contest the charges against him.

 

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