Commodity Futures Trading Commission obtains SDNY consent order against KuCoin operator Peken Global with $500,000 penalty for unregistered foreign board of trade access

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a consent order against Peken Global Limited, the Turks and Caicos-incorporated operator of the KuCoin exchange, for allowing U.S. participants to trade directly on its electronic trading and order-matching system without registering with the CFTC as a foreign board of trade. The order permanently enjoins Peken Global from future violations and requires payment of a USD 500,000 civil monetary penalty. It also states the CFTC is not seeking, and the court is not imposing, disgorgement based on the facts and circumstances, including Peken Global’s cooperation in the CFTC investigation and related proceedings and the judgment in the parallel criminal action United States v. Flashdot Limited, et al. (S.D.N.Y. No. 24-cr-168), in which Peken Global was subject to a forfeiture order; in that criminal action, Peken Global pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The court separately entered a voluntary dismissal with prejudice of all CFTC claims against Mek Global Limited, PhoenixFin PTE Ltd., and Flashdot Limited, and the consent order dismissed with prejudice counts II through V of the CFTC complaint against Peken Global, resolving all claims in the matter.