KuCoin latest crypto firm to pay hefty price for violating BSA with $297M penalty

Cryptocurrency wallet

The Sechelles-based owner of cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin has agreed to pay nearly $300 million in penalties–and cease doing business in the U.S. for two years–to settle charges that it failed to properly monitor potential criminal activity on its network.

Peken Global, operating KuCoin since 2019, agreed to pay penalties worth $297 million for failing to register as a money transmitting business with the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a press release Monday.

From 2017-24, KuCoin failed to implement effective anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) programs designed to prevent their network from being used to fund criminal and terrorism activities, and failed to report suspicious activity to FinCEN on billions of dollars worth of transactions, the DOJ said. Until 2023, KuCoin did not collect any identifying information on its customers, the DOJ said. After 2023, when it began mandating KYC processes apply to new customers, it allegedly did not impose the same KYC processes on existing customers.

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