BD
Ben Delo
pardonFinancial / FraudRe-offendedFurther reading
Convicted of
Ben Delo was a co-founder, COO, and Chief Strategy Officer of BitMEX, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange. He pleaded guilty to one count of willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an anti-money laundering (AML) program at BitMEX, in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. From approximately 2015 to 2020, BitMEX knowingly served US customers without identity verification or know-your-customer (KYC) checks, allowed customers from Iran and other sanctioned jurisdictions to trade on the platform, and failed to file any suspicious activity reports — even after being notified by federal authorities that the platform was being used to launder proceeds from a cryptocurrency hack.
Original sentence
Pleaded guilty on February 24, 2022 to one count of violating the Bank Secrecy Act in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Sentenced on June 15, 2022 to 30 months' probation with no jail time and no home confinement. Also ordered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to pay a $10 million fine.
Post-pardon activity
2mentions
1new offense
New Offenses After Pardon(1)
Ben Delo announced he has donated £4 million to Reform UK, a British far-right political party — a potential campaign finance issue under UK law.
Subsequent News Mentions(2)
Day 423· 18 March 2026
Ben Delo provides funding, networking, and podcasting space through a political base in Westminster for various groups with hardline views on migration, abortion, and other issues.
Day 592· 3 September 2026
Crypto billionaire Ben Delo, previously pardoned by Trump, donated another £4 million to Reform UK, making him the party's second-largest donor. The party is confident the donation will not be caught in new overseas donor caps.