US Prosecutors Think Arthur Hayes Deserves More Than A Year In Prison

US prosecutors think that Arthur Hayes deserves more than a year in prison for failing to establish an anti-money laundering program at BitMEX. Let’s find out more today in our latest cryptocurrency news.

According to US Prosecutors, the co-founder of BitMEX Arthur Hayes should stay behind bars for more than a year because his company violated the anti-money laundering laws and it is expected that the court will sentence him to spend up to six months and one year in federal prison for pleading guilty of breaching the Bank Secrecy Act back in February. The digital asset exchange and derivative trading platform BitMEX made the headlines back in October 2020 when the commodity futures trading commission accused the co-founders of failing to establish and maintain an AML program. Hence, the prosecutors argued that the executive’s actions turned the exchange into a money-laundering platform. The following lawsuits led to a penalty of $100 million imposed on BitMEX while the co-founders stepped down.

Hayes pled guilty to the charges brought against him which can grant him a reduced prison sentence to 12 months and he also agreed to pay a $10 million fine. The US prosecutors opined that the punishment doesn’t seem quite harsh keeping in mind the violations that were done which is why Hayes has to be in federal prison for  over a year:

“There is no question that this case has been extremely closely watched in the cryptocurrency industry. Compliance by cryptocurrency platforms will be unattainable if their operators believe there are no meaningful repercussions for failing to comply with the law.”

For their part, Hayes’ lawyers insisted that the client should not see the prison cell from the inside and allow him to travel across the world. They argued that the case is a turning point for future violations and will help the US government to solve financial crimes related to crypto platforms. The Probation office believes Hayes should not go to prison and recommended two-year probation. Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed also got slammed with financial penalties for BitMEX law violations and the CFTC ordered rot pay $10 million fines each. In addition to the court, sentencing is set for June 15 and July 13 as it remains unknown whether they will face prison time, probation, or further monetary sanctions.