Trump pardons BitMEX co-founders, White House official says

(This March 28 story has been corrected to say that the co-founders failed to implement a Bank Secrecy Act-compliant anti-money laundering program, not violating the Bank Secrecy Act, in paragraph 3)

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has pardoned the three co-founders of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, a White House official said on Friday.

In addition, former employee Gregory Dwyer and an entity owning and operating the crypto exchange received full and unconditional pardons, BitMEX confirmed in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Trump granted pardons to co-founders Benjamin Delo, Arthur Hayes and Samuel Reed, who had pleaded guilty in 2022 for failing to implement a Bank Secrecy Act-compliant anti-money laundering program.

The pardons come at a time of optimism in the crypto industry about looser regulation under Trump, who courted crypto donors during his campaign and promised support.

Prosecutors had accused BitMEX and founders Delo, Hayes and Reed of willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act between 2015 and 2020 by failing to adopt anti-money-laundering and "know your customer" programs, Reuters reported in January.

Also pardoned this week by Trump was Trevor Milton, the founder of bankrupt electric and hydrogen-powered truckmaker Nikola, who had been convicted of fraud.

(Reporting by Prakhar Srivastava and Pretish M J in Bengaluru and Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Pooja Desai and Leslie Adler)

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