During his sentencing hearing in New York on Friday, Arthur Hayes, one of the founders of crypto exchange BitMEX, escaped jail time. Hayes was sentenced to six months of home detention as part of a two-year probationary period by Judge John Koeltl. He previously admitted to breaking the US Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). The 36-year-old Hayes told the court, “I’m ready to turn the page.” Prior to the creation of BitMEX, his attorney spoke extensively about his character attestations and voluntary activity. Following the hearing, a spokesman for Hayes declined to comment. The prosecution had requested a sentence of more than the standard 6 to 12 months in prison. “Hayes profited greatly from BitMEX, personally earning over one hundred million dollars, while willfully and continuously operating the Company in violation of the BSA, by failing to implement an anti-money laundering (“AML”) program,” the prosecution wrote in a May 9 letter to the court. “There were real consequences to this offence,” an attorney for the US government said during the hearing. “The defendent advertised its lack of AML or KYC.” Hayes, on his part, had requested that the court grant him probation with the option of traveling before sentencing. Hayes, an American citizen, was living in Singapore when the DOJ first announced its lawsuit. His legal team then secured his repatriation to the United States. Since the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Depar...
