KuCoin Accused of Money Laundering in Federal Charges
In the United States, federal prosecutors have brought charges against the alleged violation of anti-money laundering regulations by the crypto exchange Kucoin and two of its founders.
As per the filing, Gan and Tang made millions of users transact millions without establishing KYC or AML programs till the year 2023.
Failure to Register with FinCEN
In addition, the business mentioned above allegedly failed to register with the Financial Crime Enforcement Network, a part of the U.S. Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as an MSB (Money Services Business).
The accusation states that KuCoin, by not having any KYC and AML policies, has been facilitating the money laundering of dirty money connected to different illegal activities, like irregularities dealt by countries under sanctions, darknet marketplaces and fraud schemes.
Allegations of Kucoin Receiving Sanctioned Funds
Kucoin is going through this scrutiny as the prosecutors alleged it received more than $3.2 million in cryptocurrencies from Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer the FBI sanctioned.
As for the parallel course of action, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued the firm that it did not register as a futures commission merchant or report its cash flows to the CFTC.
The CFTC seeks to impose fines, ban entrance to trade and register for an injunction, while the Department of Justice tries to confiscate any illicit profits alongside criminal sanctions.
Mr. Darren McCormack, head of Homeland Security Investigations known as HSI, described the scam allegedly run by KuCoin as a “billion-dollar criminal conspiracy.”
This exonem embraces the fact that KuCoin is among the biggest exchanges of cryptocurrencies.
Evidence of Concealment and Expansion
Impeccable evidence against Bit máci was brought by The U.S. Attorney Damien Williams, as he pointed KuCoin’s efforts to conceal the presence and role of the U.S. traders in its activity while growing the company.
Following the announcement of the charges, KuCoin’s native token (KCS) experienced a 5% drop, while Bitcoin’s price declined by 1%, though it has been volatile throughout the day, currently trading around $70,000.
These developments follow similar charges brought against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, by the DOJ, CFTC, and Treasury Department in recent months.
