The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted Maximiliano Pilipis, operator of AurumXchange, on charges of money laundering and tax violations related to transactions from Silk Road, a notorious darknet market.
Pilipis was run by Ross Ulbricht, known as “Dread Pirate Roberts,” and processed millions of transactions involving funds from Silk Road, which served as an anonymous hub for illegal trade from 2011 to 2013. It is said that he did.
Piripis, 53, operated AurumXchange without a license from 2009 until it was shut down in 2013 when the FBI shut down Silk Road, according to an Oct. 28 statement from the Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice alleges that more than $30 million in 100,000 transactions moved through AurumXchange, and that Pilipis collected millions of dollars in fees, including about $10,000 in Bitcoin, to facilitate these exchanges. I am doing it. The value of these assets at the time was approximately $1.2 million, which is much higher today.
Authorities further allege that Pilipis ignored important federal reporting requirements, failed to register AurumXchange with the U.S. Treasury Department, and failed to file activity reports required of virtual currency exchanges.
Additionally, AurumXchange reportedly does not implement Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, a key measure under anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) regulations.
The Department of Justice alleges that after AurumXchange was shut down, Pilipis hid its profits by carving up Bitcoin and other assets and transferring them to the US dollar. These funds were allegedly used for real estate investments in Indiana, specifically in Arcadia and Noblesville.
Philippis is also accused of failing to file tax returns for income generated from these activities in 2019 and 2020, which the Department of Justice estimates to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. He is currently under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Indiana State Police.
A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Mr. Pilippis with five counts of money laundering and two counts of willful failure to file tax returns. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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