According to a report by “The Block”, the US Department of Justice announced on Tuesday (26th) that it has filed charges against cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin and its two founders, alleging that they violated anti-money laundering laws.
According to the indictment issued by the US Southern District of New York Prosecutor’s Office, KuCoin and its two founders, Chun Gan and Ke Tang, are accused of operating an unlicensed money transmission business and violating the Bank Secrecy Act. US prosecutors claim that the exchange failed to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program, failed to establish “reasonable procedures” to verify customer identities, and failed to file suspicious activity reports.
The indictment states that KuCoin intentionally evaded US anti-money laundering and KYC regulations by falsely claiming that it had no US customers, when in fact, it had a large customer base in the US. Authorities claim that KuCoin allowed its platform to be used to launder over $9 billion.
The Department of Justice also stated that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a parallel civil lawsuit against KuCoin on Tuesday. According to the announcement, KuCoin is accused by the CFTC of operating an illegal digital asset derivatives exchange.
After news of the charges broke, KuCoin stated on the X platform that it is operating well and user assets are secure. They are currently investigating the details through lawyers and emphasized that KuCoin respects the laws and regulations of all countries and adheres strictly to compliance standards.
