“For five years the company represented that it wasn’t in the United States — that it couldn’t be in the United States,” the judge said, despite the fact that U.S. customers had become its “largest source” of business in that time.
“The offense was a violation of criminal law and was willful,” the judge added.
BitMEX last year copped to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by knowingly failing to maintain adequate anti-money laundering and know-your-customer programs for five years ending in September 2020.
Arguing for a lesser sentence, BitMEX general counsel Peter Wilkinson said Wednesday that the company has lost market share and has struggled to maintain banking and regulatory relationships in other countries because of the criminal case.
“Together, all these factors have snowballed into a virtual death knell for the business,” Wilkinson said.
He also cited what he called a robust, ongoing compliance effort to make sure the company stays away from U.S. customers until such time as it may attempt to enter the U.S. market legitimately.
