HDR Global Trading Limited
- Status of the full grant
- Pardons granted
- Clemency
- Pardon (corporate) · Mar 27, 2025
- District
- Southern District of New York
- The case
- Violation of the Bank Secrecy Act by the company that owned and operated BitMEX. CNBC reported that BitMEX was sentenced to pay a $100 million fine for failing to establish and maintain anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer programs; the compiled clemency record says the company pleaded guilty in July 2024 and was fined in January 2025.
WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS
HDR Global Trading Limited owned and operated BitMEX, the compiled clemency record says. CNBC reported that Trump issued the pardons “more than three months after BitMEX was sentenced to pay a fine of $100 million for violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to establish and maintain anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer programs.”
The Justice Department's clemency list records the company's sentence as two years' unsupervised probation and a $100,000,000 fine, imposed January 15, 2025 in the Southern District of New York, and dates the pardon March 27, 2025 — one of six pardons its list records that day, alongside the four BitMEX executives and Trevor Milton. The compiled clemency record says the company was pardoned the same week the $100 million fine was due, and notes that Bloomberg described HDR Global Trading as the first company pardoned instead of a natural person.
This is a corporate pardon rather than a grant to a person. No lobbyist or donation is documented in the sources cited for this grant.
RESPONSE
The cited report carries no statement from HDR Global Trading Limited. Co-founder Ben Delo said in a statement that the Justice Department “wrongfully targeted BitMEX and its co-founders” and called the pardon “a vindication,” CNBC reported.
Correction to the shared entry, BitMEX founders and HDR Global Trading. An earlier version said the grants came the same day as the Milton pardon and during the launch period of Trump-family crypto ventures. The same-day timing is from the Justice Department list; the earlier wording implied a connection the cited sources do not establish. Corrected September 18, 2026. Note added September 23, 2026.
SOURCES FOR THE FULL GRANT
- Wikipedia: List of people granted executive clemency in the second Trump presidency ↗
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney: Clemency grants by President Donald J. Trump (2025-present) ↗
- NBC Los Angeles (CNBC): Trump pardons three BitMEX crypto exchange co-founders, and ex-employee ↗
This grant is recorded in full at BitMEX founders and HDR Global Trading, which carries the shared record and every source cited here. A connection recorded here is not proof that it bought the outcome. How entries are labeled · Submit a correction or response · Download the ledger
