Odaily News The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Maximiliano Pilipis, operator of the cryptocurrency exchange AurumXchange, with laundering millions of dollars. While Pilipis was running AurumXchange, more than $30 million in funds passed through the exchange in 100,000 transactions, some of which came from accounts on the darknet market Silk Road. Pilipis allegedly operated his exchange without a license from 2009 to 2013, the same year the FBI shut down Silk Road. The Justice Department claims that Pilipis received millions of dollars in fees for facilitating these transactions, including 10,000 BTC worth about $1.2 million at the time. Authorities also allege that Pilipis ignored federal registration and reporting requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges, failed to register with the U.S. Treasury Department, and failed to file reports on the exchange's activities with the federal government. He also allegedly failed to implement KYC rules, violating anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) regulations. After AurumXchange shut down, authorities said Pilipis split the Bitcoin and other assets he earned from running AurumXchange, converting the cryptocurrencies into U.S. dollars and then using them to make real estate investments in Arcadia and Noblesville, Indiana. In the process, Pilipis' assets generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in income in 2019 and 2020 for which he did not file tax returns. A federal grand jury issued a superseding indictment charging him with five counts of money laundering and two counts of willful failure to file tax returns. If convicted, he could face up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. (Cointelegraph)