Gregory Dwyer, Bank Secrecy Act Violations, New York 2020

Gregory Dwyer, a high-ranking employee at the Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange, has pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an anti-money laundering (AML) program at the exchange.

According to prosecutors, Dwyer, 39, of Australia and Bermuda, served as the Head of Business Development at BitMEX and willfully caused the exchange to fail to establish and maintain an AML program, including a program for verifying the identity of BitMEX’s customers.

As a result, BitMEX was essentially a money laundering platform, allowing users to access and trade on the exchange from the United States despite the exchange’s purported withdrawal from the U.S. market in September 2015.

Dwyer aided and abetted BitMEX’s failure to institute AML or KYC programs, despite closely following U.S. regulatory developments that made clear the legal obligation to do so if BitMEX operated in the United States.

The maximum penalty for violating the BSA is five years in prison, and Dwyer agreed to pay a $150,000 criminal fine representing pecuniary gain derived from the offense.

Dwyer’s plea comes after the previous guilty pleas of BitMEX’s founders, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, who were sentenced by Judge John G. Koeltl.

The investigation was led by the FBI’s New York Money Laundering Investigation Squad, and the prosecution was handled by the Office’s Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit.

Gregory Dwyer, Defendant, Real full name: Gregory Dwyer, Criminal charges: Violating the Bank Secrecy Act, City and state: New York, Exact date: September 2020, Sentence or outcome: Pleaded guilty, $150,000 criminal fine.

This case highlights the importance of anti-money laundering regulations and the consequences of willfully disregarding them.

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