US DOJ Charges Kucoin Co-Founders for AML Violations

US DOJ has filed charges against Kucoin Exchange and its co-founders for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

US DOJ has filed charges against the Kucoin Exchange and two of its co-founders, Chun Gan and Ke Tang, for violating several laws to accelerate the growth of their trading platform into one of the most prominent in the emerging industry.

Kucoin, Chan and Ke were charged by US DOJ with conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business and conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act, as stated by the charges that were brought forward by Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and other top regulators.

These charges were brought to disclose the activities of the three individuals. The Department of Justice’s charges have affected the exchange most recently, following the $4.3 billion Binance settlement in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Considering that Kucoin permitted daily trades worth billions of dollars and annual trades worth trillions of dollars, the regulators pointed out that the exchange was home to illegal transactions that sparked activities related to money laundering.

The indictments state that Kucoin facilitated up to four billion dollars worth of suspicious and illicit funds.