US Department of Justice vs KuCoin

[zasad@]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/prominent-global-cryptocurrency-exchange-kucoin-and-two-its-founders-criminally
Prominent Global Cryptocurrency Exchange KuCoin And Two Of Its Founders Criminally Charged With Bank Secrecy Act And Unlicensed Money Transmission Offenses

"KuCoin and Two of Its Founders, Chun Gan and Ke Tang, Flouted U.S. Anti-Money Laundering Laws to Grow KuCoin Into One of World’s Largest Cryptocurrency Exchanges
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Darren McCormack, the Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), announced today the unsealing of an Indictment against global cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin and two of its founders, CHUN GAN, a/k/a “Michael,” and KE TANG, a/k/a “Eric,” for conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act by willfully failing to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering (“AML”) program designed to prevent KuCoin from being used for money laundering and terrorist financing, failing to maintain reasonable procedures for verifying the identity of customers, and failing to file any suspicious activity reports.  KuCoin was also charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and a substantive violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.  GAN and TANG remain at large. "

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The main gist of the allegations is that the exchange did not have KYC until mid-2023.

And what will happen to those exchanges, which even now do not have KYC?

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[pakhitheboss]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/prominent-global-cryptocurrency-exchange-kucoin-and-two-its-founders-criminally
Prominent Global Cryptocurrency Exchange KuCoin And Two Of Its Founders Criminally Charged With Bank Secrecy Act And Unlicensed Money Transmission Offenses

This is the first exchange that got authorized to trade in India as they accepted all requirements from my government. How ironic a scam exchange which I think is what happened with Kucoin clearing all the requirements of the Indian government and becoming a culprit in a few days. I do think that it is a temporary setback and the exchange will get back with an answer to which I think would only non justify their envolvement.

[zasad@]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/prominent-global-cryptocurrency-exchange-kucoin-and-two-its-founders-criminally
Prominent Global Cryptocurrency Exchange KuCoin And Two Of Its Founders Criminally Charged With Bank Secrecy Act And Unlicensed Money Transmission Offenses

This is the first exchange that got authorized to trade in India as they accepted all requirements from my government. How ironic a scam exchange which I think is what happened with Kucoin clearing all the requirements of the Indian government and becoming a culprit in a few days. I do think that it is a temporary setback and the exchange will get back with an answer to which I think would only non justify their envolvement.

I hear "money laundering and terrorist financing" in every indictment.

The founders of KuCoin do not have 4 billion and they are not stupid enough to go to the USA.

So far lawyers are working with the case and there is no concrete information, but it is very interesting to see what evidence the US Justice Department has.

[yhiaali3]

The main gist of the allegations is that the exchange did not have KYC until mid-2023.

And what will happen to those exchanges, which even now do not have KYC?

Does not forcing users to join KYC make the exchange incriminating in the eyes of the US government? This is really funny. So in this case, all exchanges that do not require KYC yet will come in turn.

Not only that, but according to an article I read online, KuCoin:
It "willfully failed" to create software that would prevent the platform from being used for illicit activities, including terrorist financing, federal prosecutors alleged.

This means that they accuse KuCoin of deliberately avoiding money laundering and anti-terrorism regulations.

Also

Homeland Security Investigations highlighted the seriousness of the case, describing KuCoin as part of a “billion-dollar criminal conspiracy” and one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges globally. US Attorney General Damian Williams criticized KuCoin for its large, but undisclosed, US user base, which has contributed to its status as a major player in the cryptocurrency market, facilitating billions of daily trades without basic anti-money laundering policies.

https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/doj-files-charges-against-crypto-exchange-kucoin-over-aml-violations-3353746

I laughed at the use of describing KuCoin  as a “billion-dollar criminal conspiracy”!!!

[YOSHIE]

And what will happen to those exchanges, which even now do not have KYC?

Indeed, if you are dealing with the Department of Justice, let alone the US, the problem is already long, I think there is one way for the KuCoin exchange to avoid being accused of money laundering, as accused by US Justice lawyers.
1. KuCoin must create a KYC feature for all its users worldwide.

Maybe, if KYC is burdensome for KuCoin, like it or not, they have to implement it, so that money laundering charges against terrorists can legally be resolved, but if KuCoin doesn't respond to this case professionally, Maybe over time, KuCoin could become a problem for the exchange, of course this will have an impact on KuCoin users themselves.
 
We have seen case after legal case against Binance, but Binance continues to operate as usual, maybe if KuCoin could do like Binance I don't think it would be an obstacle for KuCoin to gain the trust of the users themselves, The point is that each case can be resolved based on whether the case itself is big or small.

[electronicash]

And what will happen to those exchanges, which even now do not have KYC?

Indeed, if you are dealing with the Department of Justice, let alone the US, the problem is already long, I think there is one way for the KuCoin exchange to avoid being accused of money laundering, as accused by US Justice lawyers.
1. KuCoin must create a KYC feature for all its users worldwide.

Maybe, if KYC is burdensome for KuCoin, like it or not, they have to implement it, so that money laundering charges against terrorists can legally be resolved, but if KuCoin doesn't respond to this case professionally, Maybe over time, KuCoin could become a problem for the exchange, of course this will have an impact on KuCoin users themselves.
 
We have seen case after legal case against Binance, but Binance continues to operate as usual, maybe if KuCoin could do like Binance I don't think it would be an obstacle for KuCoin to gain the trust of the users themselves, The point is that each case can be resolved based on whether the case itself is big or small.

they only need to pay the fine to continue operating. a few other exchanges would have done the same thing and not asked for KYC.

but with the kind of departments such as Homeland Security Investigations and FED, i'm sure they are not after a fine of $4B, knowing that South Korea is their Ally, the US government will demand access to Kucoin's database to see user's details. it's not just limited to US citizens who trade in Kucoin.

[pakhitheboss]

I hear "money laundering and terrorist financing" in every indictment.

The founders of KuCoin do not have 4 billion and they are not stupid enough to go to the USA.

So far lawyers are working with the case and there is no concrete information, but it is very interesting to see what evidence the US Justice Department has.

Don't you think that the government of the US is using its arms like the SEC and now the DOJ to get ransom in the name of law? They have been constantly behind every cryptocurrency exchange lately after big financial institutions applied for ETFs. Is this how the government of the US will refill its debt of $34.63 trillion? I do not think that might be the reason but knowing it's past I can say these charges have been placed because the financial institutions in that country want to make money from Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. That being said look at the demand for Bitcoin ETF, whenever Bitcoin goes into red these institutional investors make it up for it.

[bbc.reporter]

The main gist of the allegations is that the exchange did not have KYC until mid-2023.

And what will happen to those exchanges, which even now do not have KYC?

If the American government can harass Binance and for force their CEO to retire and pay billions in settlement, they can also do this against Kucoin or any of the regulated exchange presently operating in the cryptospace.

On the exchanges that are unregulated, have never imposed KYC and that have an anonymous development team, the American government can seize their domain similar to what we have witnessed being done on bitcoin mixers.

[zasad@]

The main gist of the allegations is that the exchange did not have KYC until mid-2023.

And what will happen to those exchanges, which even now do not have KYC?

Does not forcing users to join KYC make the exchange incriminating in the eyes of the US government? This is really funny. So in this case, all exchanges that do not require KYC yet will come in turn.

Not only that, but according to an article I read online, KuCoin:
It "willfully failed" to create software that would prevent the platform from being used for illicit activities, including terrorist financing, federal prosecutors alleged.

This means that they accuse KuCoin of deliberately avoiding money laundering and anti-terrorism regulations.

Any lawsuit with the US government is no laughing matter. Because if the exchange loses the court and doesn't pay the fines, it will be in trouble in other jurisdictions.
5 billion in funds received from unverified sources, that's a very serious accusation. There is not much time left before mass KYC on the big exchanges

[yhiaali3]

There is not much time left before mass KYC on the big exchanges

Not on the big exchanges, but on all the exchanges. This was my opinion and I mentioned it several times that in the end all exchanges will move to KYC, whether large or small, and even decentralized. It is only a matter of time.

But the United States government starts with big exchanges. We have always seen this. When the exchange grows, the United States begins to pursue it and distribute true and false charges. This is what is happening with KuCoin now. When it was small, the United States did not care about it, but after it grew a lot, it began to pursue it.

[Husires]

Any lawsuit with the US government is no laughing matter. Because if the exchange loses the court and doesn't pay the fines, it will be in trouble in other jurisdictions.
5 billion in funds received from unverified sources, that's a very serious accusation. There is not much time left before mass KYC on the big exchanges

The headache of US courts can be avoided by placing a regulation in the terms of use that prohibits citizens of the United States from using the site, which is something that many services do.
Kucoin is accused of misrepresenting currencies, facilitating money laundering, and allowing this even though they know it is against their license.