The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has reportedly granted pardons to three co-founders of the cryptocurrency platform BitMEX, who admitted guilt to serious charges.
As outlined in a March 28 report, Trump has extended clemency to Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, who were dealing with various criminal allegations tied to money laundering and breaches of the Bank Secrecy Act. Hayes and Delo entered guilty pleas in February 2022, conceding that they “willfully failed to establish, implement and maintain an Anti-Money Laundering program” within BitMEX, while Reed followed suit with a guilty plea shortly after.
As of the time of this report, there was no comment from the White House indicating Trump’s intention to pardon these individuals. The cryptocurrency exchange was approached for a reaction regarding the pardons but had not responded by the time this information was published.
Since assuming office on January 20, Trump has awarded several contentious federal pardons, which include over 1,500 individuals associated with the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol and Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, who has been imprisoned for over 11 years. There are indications that Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX who received a 25-year sentence for misappropriating customer funds, was also seeking to gain favor with Trump and the Republican party for a possible pardon.
This story is still developing, and additional details will be provided as they emerge.