Delo pleaded not guilty during a remote process. He traveled from the United Kingdom to the USA and then returned to the European country.
One of the BitMex exchange founders, Benjamin Delo, surrendered to the United States authorities and is now facing charges of alleged money laundering against him.
According to a note published on March 16 by the Bloomberg news agency, Delo went to New York from the United Kingdom. He received accusations before the American judge Sarah L. Cave during a remote process, pleading not guilty. He gets back to his freedom with a $ 20 million bail before returning to the UK.
Delo is an Oxford-educated computer scientist who created a high-frequency trading system for JP Morgan Chase & Co. In 2014, together with Arthur Hayes and Samuel Reed, he launched BitMex.
The Allegations against Delo
BitMex generated its futures and options trading platform in 2014. In October 2020, all of the firm’s founders faced several charges from federal prosecutors in New York who accused them of outflanking banking laws to ensure that the platform won’t turn into a tool to accomplish illegal purposes.
Furthermore, according to the US authorities, BitMex did not register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), like any exchange that offers future trading options.
Officials noted that BitMex allowed users to deposit bitcoins without registering. They also allowed the consumption of essential products without verifying the whereabouts of origin. Similarly, they questioned why BitMex allowed deposits without any KYC verification.
However, a BitMex spokesperson said that the charges against Delo are unfounded and, in their opinion, are an excess by the US authorities. He assured that Delo intends to defend himself against the charges and clear his name in court.
Federal prosecutors said another of the exchange’s founders, Arthur Hayes, is in Singapore and is negotiating with authorities to surrender in Hawaii on April 6. Meanwhile, Reed was arrested in Massachusetts in 2020.
BitMex Publishes Book on Bitcoin Blockchain Size War
BitMex’s executive management changed in full on October 8, 2020, right after accusations from the CFTC. Arthur Hayes, and the other co-founders, were removed by consensus from their positions, with “immediate effect.” Instead, the company appointed Alexander Hoptner as CEO in November 2020.
BitMex was spared another lawsuit in court, having reached a monetary settlement with two of its former founders. Frank Amato and Guido Capone, two of BitMex’s early founders, will receive $ 44 million as part of the deal.
Recently, BitMex Research, a research arm of the cryptocurrency and derivatives exchange, BitMex, announced on Twitter the publication of its book, The Blocksize War, which talks about the war Bitcoin’s block size, which has spanned from August 2015 until November 2017.
The Blocksize War chronologically narrates the most important events and conflicts of the conflict from August 2015 to November 2017 due to the amount of data allowed on the Bitcoin blockchain.
By: Jenson Nuñez
