US Accuses Crypto Exchange Operator of Laundering Silk Road Money

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According to a statement released by the Department of Justice on October 28th, the operator of crypto exchange AurumXchange, Maximiliano Pilipis, has been charged with money laundering.

The DOJ alleges that Pilipis processed over $30 million through the exchange in over 100,000 transactions, some of which came from the infamous darknet marketplace, Silk Road.

The marketplace was operated on the Tor network by American Ross Ulbricht, using the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts” from 2011 to 2013. Silk Road became a popular hub for illegal drug sales due to its anonymous buying and selling system.

Pilipis is accused of running AurumXchange without a proper license from 2009 to 2013, the same year that the FBI shut down Silk Road. It is believed that Pilipis earned millions of dollars in fees for facilitating the transactions, including 10,000 Bitcoin which was worth approximately $1.2 million at the time.