BitMEX co-founder Samuel Reed pleads guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violation

BitMEX co-founder Samuel Reed has pleaded guilty to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act, according to the Department of Justice.

The news, revealed Wednesday morning, follows the announcement of guilty pleas from fellow co-founders Arthur Hayes and Ben Delo, as previously reported. 

Reed “pled guilty today to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (the “BSA”) by willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an anti-money laundering (“AML”) program at BitMEX.  Under the terms of his plea agreement, REED agreed to separately pay a $10 million criminal fine representing pecuniary gain derived from the offense,” the DOJ said. The fine and enforcement language mirror what was imposed by the DOJ on Hayes and Delo last month.

The BSA charges date back to October 2020, when the DOJ unveiled its criminal lawsuit alongside civil charges pursued against BitMEX by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.