BitMEX Founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, And Samuel Reed Pardoned by President Trump

United States President Donald Trump reportedly pardoned three co-founders of the Seychelles-based crypto exchange BitMEX who had pleaded guilty to felony charges.

“The co-founders, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, previously pled guilty to a range of federal criminal charges related to money laundering and failure to police the exchange,” CNBC reported on Friday, adding that prosecutors had accused the co-founders of using BitMEX as a “money laundering platform and that withdrawing from the U.S. market was a “sham.”

As per CNBC, the pardons were signed on March 27.

“Thank you,” Hayes posted on X Friday, tagging the official account of the President of the United States.

Hayes, Delo, Reed, and Gregory Dwyer — BitMEX’s first employee — were indicted by U.S. authorities in 2020 for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Hayes, who was then the exchange’s CEO, was forced to resign due to the legal complications.

The reasons for President Trump’s pardon remain unclear as of press time, as the three individuals had already been sentenced to a combination of probation or home detention. The court also mandated each to pay a $10 million civil monetary penalty as part of a civil case with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Earlier this year, BitMEX was hit with a further $100 million fine after ending its lengthy legal tussle related to anti-money laundering violations.

President Trump’s Crypto-Related Pardons

Since assuming office on January 20, President Trump has issued a slew of contentious federal pardons, including to Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who is fundamentally tied to Bitcoin’s early history. Ulbricht was 11 years into a harsh sentence of double life in prison plus 40 years, with no possibility of parole. 

Reports have revealed that the disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for his role in misusing user funds, is campaigning for a potential pardon from President Trump.

It was also alleged that Binance co-founder and ex-CEO Changpeng Zhao, aka CZ, who also served four months in prison last year, becoming the richest person to ever go to prison in the U.S, had also sought a pardon from President Trump. However, CZ quickly denied the reports that he was angling for his own pardon.