Trump pardons three co-founders of BitMEX crypto exchange

Arthur Hayes, chief executive officer of BitMEX, speaks during the Consensus: Invest event in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Donald Trump has granted pardons to three co-founders of the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange, CNBC has learned.

The co-founders, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed, previously pled guilty to a range of federal criminal charges related to money laundering and failure to police the exchange.

Reed pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act in 2022 and agreed to pay a $10 million fine.

Prosecutors accused the men of effectively operating BitMEX as a “money laundering platform” and that its purported withdrawal from the U.S. market was “a sham.”

Trump issued the pardons on Thursday.

Trevor Milton, the founder and former CEO of electric truck maker Nikola, revealed Thursday night that Trump had pardoned him for his criminal conviction for securities fraud. Milton had been sentenced to four years in prison in that case, but remained free on appeal.

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