OKX to pay $500 million for violating AML laws

The US Department of Justice claims concern a subsidiary of the exchange

25.02.2025 - 09:55

2 min

What’s new? The Star Xu-led team at leading centralized crypto exchange (CEX) OKX has entered into a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice in connection with an investigation into its subsidiary Aux Cayes FinTech. Under the agreement, the company will pay a $500 million fine.

Source: X.com

What else is known? The reason for the investigation was that the company did not have a remittance license, which is a violation of the anti-money laundering law. OKX said that affected US customers have been restricted from using the platform going forward.

The total fine includes $421 million in fees that will be refunded to US customers.

OKX said it took the initiative to hire a compliance consultant to correct the problems and improve its compliance program.

In turn, FBI officials noted that OKX had previously advised US customers to provide false personal information to avoid going through verification procedures.

Moreover, the exchange officially announced back in 2017 that it was discontinuing services to US customers, which was not true.

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