U.S. court sentences Cartier family descendant to 8 years in prison for $470 million crypto money laundering case

BlockBeats News, April 29 — A U.S. court sentenced Cartier (Cartier) luxury family heir Maximilien de Hoop Cartier to 8 years in prison for operating an unlicensed over-the-counter cryptocurrency trading platform and assisting in the transfer of over $470 million in drug trafficking proceeds. Cartier previously pleaded guilty to charges of unlicensed money transmission and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to prosecutors, Cartier’s trading network consisted of numerous U.S. shell companies and more than a dozen U.S. bank accounts. He maintained account operations by falsely representing the nature of his business to financial institutions (claiming to be engaged in software publishing and development). Cartier received drug proceeds in cryptocurrency, converted it into cash, deposited it into shell company accounts, then transferred it to other nodes in the money laundering network, ultimately withdrawing in local currency in Colombia. Additionally, the court ordered the forfeiture of approximately $2.36 million in commissions Cartier earned and related shell company bank accounts.