The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Maximiliano Pilipis, the operator of AurumXchange, with money laundering and tax violations tied to transactions from the notorious darknet marketplace, Silk Road.
Pilipis allegedly processed millions in transactions, including funds from Silk Road, which was operated by Ross Ulbricht—known as “Dread Pirate Roberts”—and served as an anonymous hub for illegal trade between 2011 and 2013.
According to an Oct. 28 statement from the DOJ, 53-year-old Pilipis operated AurumXchange without a license from 2009 until its closure in 2013, the same year the FBI shut down Silk Road.
The DOJ alleges that over $30 million moved through AurumXchange across 100,000 transactions, with Pilipis collecting millions in fees for facilitating these exchanges, including approximately 10,000 Bitcoin. While these assets were valued at around $1.2 million then, their worth today would be considerably higher.
Authorities further allege that Pilipis neglected essential federal reporting requirements, failing to register AurumXchange with the US Treasury Department and to file activity reports as required for crypto exchanges.
Additionally, AurumXchange reportedly did not implement Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, a key measure in anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) regulations.
The DOJ claims that following the closure of AurumXchange, Pilipis concealed his profits by splitting and transferring Bitcoin and other assets into US dollars. These funds were allegedly used for real estate investments in Indiana, specifically in Arcadia and Noblesville.
Pilipis is also accused of failing to file tax returns for income generated from these activities in 2019 and 2020, which the DOJ estimates amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars. He is now being investigated by Internal Revenue Service—Criminal Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, and Indiana State Police.
A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment against Pilipis, charging him with five counts of money laundering and two counts of willfully failing to file a tax return. If convicted, he faces a potential prison sentence of up to ten years and a fine of $250,000.
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