The US government has formally charged KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange and its two founders with violating anti-money laundering (AML) laws.
According to release Published on the Justice Department’s official site on March 26, Chun Gan and Ke Tang “bypassed US anti-money laundering laws to turn KuCoin into one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.”
According to the indictment, the Seychelles (Africa)-based platform violated the US Bank Secrecy Act and the two founders conspired to Operating a money transfer business without a license,
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, “As charged in today’s indictment, KuCoin and its founders knowingly tried to conceal the fact that a large number of U.S. users were trading on the platform.”
It claims that by circumventing AML policies, the platform was able to circulate more than $4 billion of “suspicious and criminal funds” and received $5 billion for operations “in the shadows of the financial markets.”
He adds gana and tang They tried to hide the existence of American customers of KuCoin to show that the company is exempt from compliance with US AML and KYC (Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Customer) requirements.
“In fact, until at least July 2023, KuCoin is not requiring customers to provide any identifying information. According to the Department of Justice, it was not until that date, when they were notified of the federal criminal investigation into their activities, that KuCoin had belatedly adopted the KYC program for new customers.
they mention it lawsuit against the exchange Introduced by the New York Attorney General in 2023Letitia James, who accused the platform of failing to register with the state before allowing investors to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
Case it has been resolved Late last year, KuCoin blocked users in New York after reaching a settlement Paid a fine of USD 22 million,
Thanks to the Department of Justice, KuCoin has grown rapidly to serve more than 30 million customers. They take into account that the exchange is now located in seventh place One of the largest in the world. This time Allows trading of 250 digital assets,
US officials believe this development took place “despite our alleged failure to comply with the laws required to ensure the security and stability of our world’s digital banking infrastructure.”
Based on this, they believe that “today’s indictment should send a clear message to other cryptocurrency exchanges: If you plan to serve US clients, you must comply with US law, plain and simple.”
In defense of the platform, the KuCoin team posted a message on x, In this they indicate that they are aware of the demand and They are checking the details through their lawyers,
“KuCoin respects the laws and regulations of various countries and strictly adheres to compliance standards,” the writing said. they add it The platform is working well And our users’ assets are absolutely safe.
