Ex-BitMEX CEO asks for a suspended sentence and freedom to travel abroad
Arthur Hayes, a former BitMEX co-founder and CEO, asks the court to allow him to live abroad while awaiting sentencing.
According to Bloomberg, lawyers representing the 37-year-old American businessman filed a petition asking for probation with no home detention or custody after he accepted a plea bargain. Under federal law, it will lead to imprisonment for six to 12 months.
Arthur Hayes, former CTO Samuel Reed, and BitMEX co-founder Benjamin were fined $10 million for failing to create an anti-money laundering program on the exchange.
Hayes' attorneys argued that his sentencing in the burgeoning financial and market field is a precedent the United States can use in prosecuting financial crimes on cryptocurrency trading platforms worldwide. In the attorneys' words, Hayes is not likely to be a repeat offender.
“This is a landmark case that has already had an extraordinary and well-publicized impact on Mr. Hayes’s personal life and on the BitMEX business that he co-founded,” according to the letter to the judge.
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