KuCoin to pay $300m after pleading guilty to flouting anti-money laundering law

6 months ago 26

The colony follows a March 2024 transgression indictment.
Two KuCoin co-founders volition measurement down.
The crypto speech volition wage $297 million.

New York City’s apical national authoritative conscionable notched different triumph against a crypto company.

On Monday, Danielle Sassoon, the newly appointed interim caput of the Manhattan US attorney’s office, announced that the national authorities had reached a colony with KuCoin, 1 of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.

The Seychelles-based steadfast pleaded blameworthy to 1 number of violating US anti-money laundering laws.

KuCoin failed to instrumentality effectual anti-money laundering and know-your-customer programmes, study suspicious transactions, and did not registry with the US Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said the Justice Department.

The crypto speech agreed to wage much than $297 million. It volition besides exit the US marketplace for astatine slightest 2 years.

Two of KuCoin’s founders, Chun Gan and Ke Tang, who were besides facing transgression charges, agreed to measurement distant from each operations wrong the exchange.

“Today’s blameworthy plea and penalties amusement the outgo of refusing to travel these laws and allowing unlawful enactment to continue,” Sassoon said successful a statement.

In its ain statement, KuCoin said it was “pleased” to person reached a colony with the DOJ.

“While resolving regulatory challenges successful the US, we privation to reassure our planetary users that our operations successful different non-restrictive markets stay afloat unaffected,” it said.

Crypto criminals

The blameworthy plea follows a 2023 settlement KuCoin reached with the New York Attorney General.

The speech paid much than $22 cardinal successful penalties for failing to registry arsenic a securities and commodities broker-dealer successful New York and agreed to not run successful the state.

In March 2024, the national authorities indicted KuCoin.

Prosecutors alleged the institution did not person a mandatory know-your-customer process from 2017 until 2023.

“KuCoin employees regularly and often stated connected nationalist societal media sites that KYC was not mandatory connected KuCoin,” wrote the Justice Department.

The crypto speech is 1 of a fig of high-powered crypto companies that Sassoon and her bureau person investigated.

She and her colleagues successful New York City person besides prosecuted FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon.

Bankman-Fried was convicted of 7 counts of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 25 years successful situation for his relation successful the FTX scandal. He has appealed his conviction.

Kwon is set to basal proceedings successful New York aft a agelong extradition battle successful Montenegro.