The Southern District of New York’s prosecutor charged a member of the Cartier family and five Colombian nationals with laundering drug trafficking proceeds through the stablecoin USDT.
Authorities allege the individuals were part of a money laundering network operating in the US and Colombia, utilizing a system of brokers and shell companies in their illicit activities.
Maximilian de Hoop Cartier, a direct descendant of the jeweler family, has been managing an unlicensed over-the-counter cryptocurrency trading platform since around January 2020. Transactions were conducted through a group of fictitious companies, including Bullpix Solutions LLC, Vintech Capital LLC, VC Innovated Technologies LLC, AZ Technologies LLC, Softmill LLC, and Sun Technologies LLC.
His accomplices, Leonardo de Jesus Zualaga Duque, Erika Milena Lopez Ortiz, Alexander Areiza Ceballos, and Adrian Areiza Ceballos, imported over 100 kg of cocaine into the US. Another accused, Felipe Estrada Echeverri, was involved in laundering the proceeds.
Since January 2020, Cartier’s OTC platform has conducted “illegal transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars and laundered hundreds of millions in criminal proceeds,” including $14.5 million from drug trafficking between May and November 2023.
Cartier faces charges of money laundering, bank fraud, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was arrested on February 22 in Miami.
The five Colombian nationals were detained by local authorities on April 30.
The case has been brought to court.
Earlier, ForkLog reported that US authorities accused three former executives of the crypto lending platform Cred of conspiracy to launder money and fraud amounting to $783 million.