One of the world’s largest crypto derivatives exchanges, BitMEX, is facing a lawsuit that accuses the exchange of being “deliberately designed, from the ground up” to facilitate “a myriad of illegal activities.” The allegations were made in a new lawsuit filed by BMA LLC in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on May 16, according to the Bloomberg report. BitMEX operator HDR Global and exchange’s top executives Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed stand accused of multiple crimes in the lawsuit.
BitMEX’s executives stand accused of racketeering, money laundering, and wire fraud.
Crypto exchange BitMEX’s executives stand accused of engaging in or abetting multiple crimes that include racketeering, money laundering, and operating an illegal money transmitting business. The new lawsuit claims that BitMEX’s executives have, in a “brazenly, lawless manner,” engaged in these illicit activities and a host of others whose magnitude is purported to be “truly staggering.” The plaintiffs claim that BitMEX’s executives maintain close connections to the US and the Northern District of California.
The lawsuit accuses the exchange of engaging in market manipulation.
BMA LLC, which is the plaintiff in this case, accuses BitMEX and its operator of conspiring to conduct the business through a “pattern of racketeering activity” and engaging in the crypto market manipulation, fraudulent business dealings, wire frauds, and many other illicit schemes. The plaintiff further notes that the defendant exchange BitMEX provides traders with much high trading leverage for highly liquid derivatives, which are purportedly calculated based on prices of “two or three illiquid spot exchanges.”
The crypto derivatives exchange allegedly enables manipulators to operate illegally by allowing them to open an unlimited number of anonymous and unverified accounts, without trading or withdrawal limits. BitMEX is not new to facing lawsuits. The exchange was also named among seven crypto firms implicated in a series of new lawsuits alleging violations of the US securities laws.
