The U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have filed charges against crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX and its owner-operators, including co-founder and CEO Arthur Hayes.

Hayes along with co-founders Ben Delo and Samuel Reed are accused of operating an unregistered trading platform as well as violating CFTC rules, including anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations.

The 40-page complaint also names HDR Global Trading Limited, BitMEX's parent company, as well as 100x Holdings Limited, ABS Global Trading Limited, Shine Effort Inc Limited and HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited as defendants.

"The complaint charges BitMEX with operating a facility for the trading or processing of swaps without having CFTC approval as a designated contract market or swap execution facility, and operating as a futures commission merchant by soliciting orders for and accepting bitcoin to margin digital asset derivatives transactions, and by acting as a counterparty to leveraged retail commodity transactions. The complaint further charges BitMEX with violating CFTC rules by failing to implement know-your-customer procedures, a customer information program, and anti-money laundering procedures," the CFTC said in a�statement.