Fintrac imposes its largest ever penalty on operator of crypto exchange KuCoin

OTTAWA – Canada’s anti-money laundering agency says it has imposed a nearly $20-million fine, its largest penalty ever, on the company that runs cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin.

Fintrac says it imposed the $19,552,000 penalty on Peken Global Ltd. on July 28, for violating the country’s money laundering laws.

The company, a Seychelles-incorporated business, has appealed the fine to the Federal Court.

Fintrac says Peken Global failed to register with Fintrac as a foreign money services business and failed to report large virtual currency transactions.

The watchdog also says the company failed to submit suspicious transaction reports in connection with 33 instances.

It says the failure to submit suspicious transaction reports represents a severe non-compliance and a loss of critical infor