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NEW YORK (AP) — Top U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday filed criminal charges against a company once rising in the crypto world and two of its founders in an effort to send a message to other players in the industry to abide by U.S. laws. Then he announced.
U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said the conspiracy charges against KuCoin and two of its executives should warn other crypto exchanges that they must comply with U.S. laws or serve U.S. customers. Ta. The Manhattan federal court indictment alleges that the company and its founders tried to hide the existence of its U.S. customer base.
In December, New York State Attorney General Letitia James secured more than $22 million in payments from KuCoin, refunding $16.7 million to more than 150,000 investors in New York State and providing more than $5.3 million to New York State. . According to James, KuCoin was asked to stop operating in New York by pretending to be a virtual currency exchange without registering as a securities or commodity broker-dealer.
Founded in 2017, Williams said in a release that KuCoin is “the world’s largest cryptocurrency, with billions of dollars of daily trading and trillions of dollars in annual trading volume, leveraging a huge customer base in the United States.” It has become one of the derivatives and spot exchanges.” ”
He said the company deliberately chose to ignore U.S. laws aimed at identifying and eliminating criminal and corrupt financing schemes on financial platforms. As a result, the company was used as a vehicle to launder large amounts of proceeds from criminal malware, ransomware, and fraud schemes, authorities said.
According to Williams, KuCoin operates in the shadows of financial markets and provides a haven for illegal money laundering, having customers handle more than $4 billion in suspicious criminal funds, making basic money laundering difficult. It is said that even an anti-ring policy could not be implemented.
Darren McCormack, head of the New York Office of Homeland Security Investigations, said prosecutors have uncovered a multibillion-dollar criminal conspiracy involving one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
“KuCoin serves more than 30 million customers despite allegedly failing to comply with laws necessary to ensure the safety and stability of the world’s digital banking infrastructure,” McCormack said. It has grown to such an extent.”
In a statement posted on social media, the company said it is “operating smoothly and our users’ assets are absolutely safe.”
It added: “We are aware of the relevant reports and are currently investigating the details through our lawyers. KuCoin respects the laws and regulations of various countries and strictly adheres to compliance standards.”
The company’s CEO also identified himself as “Johnny” on social media and said, “Regulatory issues related to KuCoin have been brought to my attention.” While we work on this, the platform is unaffected and operating normally. Your assets are safe with us. Our team and I will provide timely updates on our progress. ”
Also indicted along with the company are the company’s founders Chun Gan, 34, and Ke Tan, 39, both Chinese nationals. He was charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act and conspiracy to operate an unauthorized money transfer business, and is currently on the run.
Bank Secrecy Act charges include that the men failed to maintain adequate anti-money laundering programs to prevent KuCoin from being used for money laundering or terrorist financing, as well as failing to verify customers. The incident stems from the failure to submit a suspicious activity report, which is common under the Bank Secrecy Act. financial industry, prosecutors said.
Three companies doing business as KuCoin have been incorporated in the Cayman Islands, the Republic of Seychelles, and Singapore. They also faced conspiracy charges.
On Tuesday, KuCoin’s website displayed the following message to US residents: “Based on your IP address, we currently do not provide service in your country or region due to local laws, regulations, or policies. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you live in an area where our services are available, please visit our platform from a supported location to complete your KYC verification.”
The company claims to have 30 million registered users in over 200 countries and territories around the world.
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