Latest crypto news on the case concerning Silk Road: Maximiliano Pilipis, the operator of AurumXchange, accused of money laundering and other tax offenses. Pilips allegedly collected fees for over 10,000 BTC on his unlicensed exchange.
Silk Road crypto news: Maximiliano Pilipis of AurumXchange accused of money laundering and tax crimes
News on the Silk Road case, the famous darknet market of Ross Ulbricht, with the USA federal grand jury that has issued a new charge.
This is Maximiliano Pilipis, 53 years old, originally from Noblesville, Indiana, operator of the unlicensed crypto-exchange AurumXchange, accused of money laundering and tax offenses.
Specifically, there are five charges of money laundering and two charges of failure to declare income. These charges refer to the period when Pilips was managing AurumXchange.
In practice, from 2009 to 2013, Pilipis created and managed AurumXchange to allow users to exchange Bitcoin (BTC) and other virtual currencies with US dollars and other virtual and government-issued currencies.
Thanks to this activity, Pilips would have collected commissions of over 10,000 Bitcoin, worth about 1.2 million dollars at the time, from the transactions.
According to the investigations, it seems that a portion of the funds flowing through AurumXchange allegedly originated from accounts held on Silk Road, shut down by federal law enforcement in 2013.
Silk Road, AurumXchange and the abuse of crypto by criminals
Pilips would then have started converting the proceeds from AurumXchange’s illegal activity into US dollars, which he then invested and spent. Among other things, Pilips would have purchased real estate properties in Arcadia and Noblesville, Indiana.
Here too, however, Pilips is said to have committed other tax offenses, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in income in 2019 and 2020, without filing the tax return as required by law.
In this regard, Zachary A. Myers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana said:
“Combating the criminal abuse of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets is a fundamental priority for the Department of Justice. Together with our partners in federal law enforcement, we will continue to work to investigate and prosecute criminals who exploit digital assets to fuel drug trafficking and other crimes, and those who illegally facilitate the transfer and laundering of crime proceeds.”
In addition to all the various accusations, it should be noted that the operator of AurumXchange also neglected several laws in the management of his crypto-exchange. Among others, Pilips did not implement the Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, in violation of anti-money laundering regulations (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF).
If convicted, Pilipis risks up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to 250,000 dollars.
Donald Trump’s Promise to Free Ross Ulbricht
In May of this year, the candidate for the Presidency and former President of the USA, Donald Trump, had promised that if elected, he will proceed with the release of Ross Ulbricht.
The founder of Silk Road has been in prison since 2013 and was sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years in prison, without the possibility of parole.
The charges against him include computer fraud, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
Yet, the darknet market he founded is considered the first case of Bitcoin (BTC) usage in the real world. For this reason, Ulbricht has become a sort of martyr for many in the crypto community. In fact, for many activists, such a sentence would be too excessive, given that the founder of Silk Road would not have committed any violent crime.