Lol, mad Mayax returns from the dead. All his predictions of Bitfinex doing an exit scam and Tether collapsing have not materialized. So he and bitfinexed just keep repeating the same bullshit and Bitfinex continues to run a legit, successful business.
i think it's a bit less black and white than that. i believe bitfinex was openly operating in the USA as an unlicensed money transmitter for 4+ years before finally banning USA residents.
I don't think allowing US residents withdrawing BTC or fiat makes them a money transmitter.
The banning of US persons was most likely related to margin trading, margin lending, and a subset of listed coins potentially being classified as "securities" by the SEC.
The CFTC looked into their business practices in 2014/2015, and fined them based on their margin trading practices. Presumably, if there were concerns about their "money transmission" practices, the CFTC or another regulator would have stepped in.