US Govt Detains KuCoin for Criminal Charges

Chun Gan and Ke Tang, the founders of cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, are facing criminal charges from the US government.

According to the indictment, the exchange allowed more than $5 billion in illegal funds to pass through its platform by failing to put in place sufficient anti-money laundering safeguards.

Chun Gan and Ke Tang are specifically charged with breaking the Bank Secrecy Act and money transmission regulations. Their involvement in a “multibillion-dollar criminal conspiracy” is mentioned in the charges.

The United States Southern District of New York released a press release outlining the charges and naming the individuals for their alleged roles in aiding unlawful activities.

The indictment was announced by Darren McCormack, the director of Homeland Security Investigations’ New York Field Office, and Damian Willians, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The document, which was previously sealed, claims that KuCoin violated US anti-money laundering regulations in its quest to become one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges globally.

Attorney Williams stressed that the exchange purposefully withheld information about how many US users were using its platform.

The indictment goes on to say that KuCoin used its sizable US customer base to leverage its rise to prominence internationally, characterizing the company’s growth as a “criminal conspiracy.”