A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment charging Maximiliano Pilipis, 53, formerly of Noblesville, Indiana, with five counts of money laundering and two counts of willfully failing to file a tax return, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana announced today.
The charges stem from Pilipis’ operation of AurumXchange, an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange that allowed users to trade Bitcoin and other digital currencies for government-issued funds, court documents reveal.
Authorities allege that, from 2009 to 2013, Pilipis facilitated more than 100,000 transactions through AurumXchange, handling over $30 million, with a portion of those funds linked to Silk Road, a now-defunct dark web marketplace.
According to court documents, Pilipis amassed more than 10,000 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $1.2 million at the time, through AurumXchange’s transaction fees.
When Silk Road was shut down in 2013, he ceased operations but continued to split and transfer these assets to conceal his gains from the unlicensed exchange, court records show.