Former New York governor advised OKX over $505M federal probe: Report

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX reportedly hired former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to advise it over the federal probe that resulted in the firm pleading guilty to several violations and agreeing to pay $505 million in fines and penalties.
Cuomo, a New York-registered attorney, advised OKX on legal issues stemming from the probe sometime after August 2021 when he resigned as New York overnor, Bloomberg reported on April 2, citing people familiar with the matter.
“He spoke with company executives regularly and counseled them on how to respond to the criminal investigation,” Bloomberg said.
The Seychelles-based firm pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business in violation of US Anti-Money Laundering laws on Feb. 24 and agreed to pay $84 million worth of penalties while forfeiting $421 million worth of fees earned from mostly institutional clients.
The breaches occurred from 2018 to 2024 despite OKX having an official policy preventing US persons from transacting on its crypto exchange since 2017, the Department of Justice noted at the time.
A spokesperson for Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, told Bloomberg that Cuomo has been providing private legal services representing individuals and corporations on a variety of matters since resigning as New York governor.
“He has not represented clients before a New York city or state agency and routinely recommends former colleagues for positions,” Azzopardi added.
OKX reportedly wasn’t willing to comment on its relationships with outside firms.
Cuomo also influenced OKX to make executive appointments: Bloomberg
Cuomo, who is now running for mayor of New York City, also advised OKX to appoint his friend US Attorney Linda Lacewell to OKX’s board of directors, Bloomberg said.
Lacewell, a former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, was added to the board in 2024 and was named OKX’s new chief legal officer on April 1, according to a recent company statement.
Source: Linda Lacewell
Related: New York bill aims to protect crypto investors from memecoin rug pulls
After the investigation concluded, OKX said it would seek out a compliance consultant to remedy the issues stemming from the federal probe and bolster its regulatory compliance program.
“Our vision is to make OKX the gold standard of global compliance at scale across different markets and their respective regulatory bodies,” OKX CEO Star Xu said in a Feb. 24 X post.
Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 106,929.00
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,620.01
Tether (USDT) $ 0.999929
XRP (XRP) $ 2.20
BNB (BNB) $ 654.12
Solana (SOL) $ 156.40
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999758
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.176886
TRON (TRX) $ 0.271412
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,617.54
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.643163
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 44.33
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 106,987.00
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,160.96
Sui (SUI) $ 3.09
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 454.59
Chainlink (LINK) $ 13.66
LEO Token (LEO) $ 9.27
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 19.65
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.261421
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 51.77
Toncoin (TON) $ 2.99
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000012
USDS (USDS) $ 0.999760
WETH (WETH) $ 2,621.23
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,805.88
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.158399
Litecoin (LTC) $ 86.97
Binance Bridged USDT (BNB Smart Chain) (BSC-USD) $ 1.00
Polkadot (DOT) $ 3.90
Monero (XMR) $ 321.49
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 4.58
Coinbase Wrapped BTC (CBBTC) $ 106,978.00
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000011
Uniswap (UNI) $ 7.68
Pi Network (PI) $ 0.600200
Aave (AAVE) $ 286.40
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999741
Ethena Staked USDe (SUSDE) $ 1.18
Bittensor (TAO) $ 381.31
OKB (OKB) $ 51.94
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 5.62
Aptos (APT) $ 4.65
BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) $ 1.00
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 2.30
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.092178
Jito Staked SOL (JITOSOL) $ 189.16
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 17.01
Ondo (ONDO) $ 0.816574
Tokenize Xchange (TKX) $ 32.22
sUSDS (SUSDS) $ 1.06
USD1 (USD1) $ 1.00
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.626709
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.079429
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 10.09
Gate (GT) $ 16.47
Sky (SKY) $ 0.092781
VeChain (VET) $ 0.022676
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 4.22
Fasttoken (FTN) $ 4.44
Ethena (ENA) $ 0.309222
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 0.721939
Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) $ 106,522.00
Render (RENDER) $ 3.56
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.203823
Filecoin (FIL) $ 2.50
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.336243
Worldcoin (WLD) $ 1.01
Binance-Peg WETH (WETH) $ 2,619.97
Quant (QNT) $ 108.64
SPX6900 (SPX) $ 1.66
Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.180661
Jupiter Perpetuals Liquidity Provider Token (JLP) $ 4.51
USDT0 (USDT0) $ 0.999109
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.997859
USDtb (USDTB) $ 0.999718
KuCoin (KCS) $ 11.18
Binance Staked SOL (BNSOL) $ 165.51
Jupiter (JUP) $ 0.434491
Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) $ 1.25
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) $ 1.93
NEXO (NEXO) $ 1.24
Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 2,983.57
Flare (FLR) $ 0.018101
Celestia (TIA) $ 1.80
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000016
Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (RSETH) $ 2,740.35
Injective (INJ) $ 11.77
Sonic (S) $ 0.346934
Story (IP) $ 3.59
Optimism (OP) $ 0.599401
Polygon Bridged USDT (Polygon) (USDT) $ 0.999746
Sei (SEI) $ 0.181475
Binance Bridged USDC (BNB Smart Chain) (USDC) $ 1.00
Stacks (STX) $ 0.646628
AB (AB) $ 0.015467
Mantle Staked Ether (METH) $ 2,798.05
PayPal USD (PYUSD) $ 0.999400
XDC Network (XDC) $ 0.059284