BitMEX Ex-CEO Hayes Asks for No Jail Time, Freedom to Travel

(Bloomberg) -- BitMEX co-founder and former CEO Arthur Hayes, who was prosecuted for failing to police criminal activity on the crypto exchange, is asking for no jail time and permission to live abroad and travel freely.

Hayes, who pleaded guilty in February to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, included a letter from his mother in a bid for leniency from the Manhattan federal judge who will sentence him this month.

His lawyers filed a request for probation, with no home detention or community confinement, after he struck a plea deal that would result in a prison sentence of six to 12 months under federal guidelines.

The 65-page submission by his lawyers included photographs and letters from supporters. The government hasn’t filed a sentencing recommendation yet. 

Hayes, BitMEX co-founder Benjamin Delo and former chief technology officer Samuel Reed all admitted they failed to establish an anti-money-laundering program at the exchange. They each agreed to pay a fine of $10 million.

Hayes’s lawyers said his conviction in the emerging area of finance and markets is a precedent the U.S. can use in the prosecution of financial crimes at cryptocurrency trading platforms around the world. Hayes is unlikely to be a repeat offender, the attorneys said.

“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.

The case is U.S. v. Hayes, 20-cr-500, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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