President issues clemency for Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, all previously convicted under the Bank Secrecy Act.
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Trump Grants Clemency to BitMEX Founders Convicted of Financial Crimes
U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly granted full pardons to three co-founders of the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX, according to a March 28 report by CNBC. The individuals—Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed—had previously pleaded guilty to felony charges related to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering (AML) failures at their platform.
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In 2022, Hayes and Delo admitted to willfully failing to implement a compliant AML program, while Reed entered a similar plea weeks later. These charges were part of a broader federal crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges operating outside U.S. regulatory frameworks.
No Official White House Statement Yet on Crypto Pardons
At the time of reporting, the White House had not confirmed or commented on the reported pardons for the BitMEX founders. If verified, the move would represent yet another controversial use of presidential clemency by Trump during his second term.
Since returning to office in 2025, Trump has issued more than 1,500 pardons, including to individuals connected to the January 6 Capitol riots and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who had served over 11 years in prison for darknet-related offenses.
Crypto Industry Figures Seek Political Favor for Legal Relief
Speculation has grown that other embattled crypto figures are also attempting to gain favor with the Trump administration. Reports suggest that Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of FTX who was sentenced to 25 years for wire fraud and misusing customer funds, is attempting to align himself with Republican lawmakers in hopes of securing clemency.
BitMEX Founders Faced Multimillion-Dollar Penalties and Sentencing
Hayes, Delo, and Reed were charged in 2020 alongside BitMEX’s first employee, Gregory Dwyer, for operating an unregistered exchange and failing to comply with U.S. anti-money laundering regulations. During their legal proceedings, Arthur Hayes stepped down from his role as CEO.
In 2022, the three executives received sentences involving home confinement, probation, and were ordered to pay $30 million in collective penalties following a civil enforcement action brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
BitMEX Parent Company Previously Fined $100 Million
In a separate settlement with U.S. authorities in 2021, HDR Global Trading Limited, BitMEX’s parent company, agreed to pay $100 million in consent penalties to both the CFTC and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
As recently as January 2025, a federal judge imposed another $100 million fine on the company, alongside two years of unsupervised probation, marking one of the largest cumulative enforcement actions ever taken against a cryptocurrency exchange in the United States.
Unclear Motivation Behind Trump’s Crypto Pardons
The rationale behind the pardons for the BitMEX co-founders remains unclear, especially since the three men had already served the majority of their sentences. The move raises fresh questions about the political calculus behind Trump’s crypto-related clemency decisions, especially as digital asset regulation remains a hot-button issue in 2025.
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