BitMEX exec Greg Dwyer agrees to US extradition to face DOJ charges

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

One of the four former executives of embattled BitMEX digital currency derivatives exchange charged with breaching American banking laws has agreed to an extradition to the United States to face the charges. Gregory Dwyer, who will be extradited from Bermuda, is the only one of the four yet to surrender to the U.S. authorities.

Dwyer was the former head of operations at BitMEX. According to local reports in the island nation, his lawyer told a Bermudan magistrate’s court that he had accepted the extradition. The U.S. Justice Department had made attempts to negotiate with Dwyer about his surrender to the U.S. but has resorted to filing extradition requests with Bermuda authorities as it was unable to come to an agreement with the Sydney-born man.

Dwyer and his former colleagues are indicted and charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act in failing to implement an anti-money laundering program. Former CEO and co-founder Arthur Hayes, ex-CTO Samuel Reed, and co-founder Benjamin Delo were all indicted by the DOJ over allegedly not only failing to implement the AML measures but also actively evading them.

Reed was the first to be apprehended, with authorities arresting him barely hours after the charges were filed in Massachusetts. He has since been released on a $5 million appearance bond. Delo, who made headlines for being the U.K.’s supposed youngest self-made billionaire, turned himself over to the authorities earlier this year and was later released on a $20 million bail. Hayes followed suit several weeks later.

Dwyer was allegedly central to the illegal processes at BitMEX as its head of operations. His influence within the exchange was great, having been the first person the founders hired. However, he insists that he is not guilty of the charges levied against him, as do all his colleagues.

Speaking to Bermudan outlet Royal Gazette, his spokesperson stated, “Mr. Dwyer continues to work with the government to ensure a smooth process for his appearance in New York and has every intention of defending himself against these meritless charges.”

Having been the only one of the four alleged money laundering enablers that had been at large, Dwyer is hopeful that this will lead to him being trialed separately from the others. His lawyer Patrick Smith claims it would be unfair to him and the other defendants if he joined too late.

“Now that we’ve set the schedule and as time passes, it would be disruptive for Mr. Dwyer to appear, We could sever him out of the case right now or set a tight timeline that if he’s not in the case by a certain date – let’s say, four weeks out – then a severance should follow that,” the lawyer told a U.S. court.

U.S. Judge John Koeltl has put this consideration off until at least after Dwyer makes his first appearance in an American court.

Follow CoinGeek’s Crypto Crime Cartel series, which delves into the stream of groups—a from BitMEX to Binance, Bitcoin.com, Blockstream, ShapeShift, Coinbase, Ripple and 
Ethereum—who have co-opted the digital asset revolution and turned the industry into a minefield for naïve (and even experienced) players in the market.