OKX Operator Pleads Guilty to U.S. AML Violations, Agrees to $505 Million Penalty

The operator of the OKX cryptocurrency exchange has admitted to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws and will pay nearly $505 million in fines and forfeited fees, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Aux Cayes FinTech Co, a Seychelles-based entity, pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The company entered its plea during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan, where the sentence was imposed.

OKX is currently the fourth-largest cryptocurrency spot exchange in the world based on traffic, liquidity, trading volumes, and confidence in the legitimacy of reported trading volumes, according to CoinMarketCap. It ranks behind Binance, Bybit, and Coinbase.

Prosecutors stated that between 2018 and early 2024, OKX violated its own policy that prohibited U.S. customers from accessing its platform. The exchange was reportedly used to facilitate more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions and criminal proceeds. Prosecutors also said OKX allowed U.S. customers to conduct over $1 trillion in transactions overall, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in fees and profits. In some cases, the company allegedly encouraged customers to bypass restrictions. One employee purportedly advised a customer to claim they were based in the United Arab Emirates and to use random numbers for identification purposes.

Despite restrictions, prosecutors said OKX actively promoted itself in the U.S., including through sponsorship of the Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan.

As part of the plea agreement, OKX will pay an $84.4 million fine and a $420.3 million forfeiture. The settlement also requires the company to retain an external compliance consultant, whom it hired in early 2023, through February 2027. OKX received credit for cooperating with the investigation.

In a statement, Aux Cayes FinTech acknowledged that U.S. customers had engaged in improper trading on its platform, attributing the violations to “legacy compliance gaps.” The company also emphasized that American customers represented only a small percentage of its overall user base and are no longer on the platform.

David Meister, outside counsel for OKX, stated: “[The] settlement contained absolutely no charges of money laundering — Aux Cayes FinTech, one of many OKX affiliates, resolved an investigation by acknowledging that it had not obtained a license to operate as a money transmitter.”

By fLEXI tEAM