The Department of Justice is suing KuCoin and its two founders for violating AML laws
Officials at the United States Department of Justice have filed charges against cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin and its two founders for “conspiring to conduct an unauthorized money transmission business” and violating the Bank Secrecy Act, or BSA.
In a March 26 announcement, the US Department of Justice alleged that KuCoin founders Chun Gan and Ke Tang willfully failed to maintain an anti-money laundering program on the exchange, allowing the platform to be used for “money laundering and terrorist financing.” The firm itself was accused of operating an unauthorized money-transmitting business and violating the BSA.
US Attorney Damian Williams said: “KuCoin and its founders deliberately sought to conceal the fact that a large number of US users were trading on the KuCoin platform. “Indeed, KuCoin has taken advantage of its large US customer base to become one of the world's largest cryptocurrencies and exchanges with billions of dollars in daily trading volume and trillions of dollars in annual trading volume.”
Williams added:
“[I]By failing to implement even basic anti-money laundering policies, the defendants allowed KuCoin to operate under the shadow of financial markets and become a haven for money laundering.
This is a developing story, and more information will be added as it becomes available.
