French National Sentenced to 8 Years for Laundering Over $470 Million via Shell Companies and Cryptocurrency Accounts

According to disclosures by the U.S. Department of Justice, French national Maximilien de Hoop Cartier was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for operating an unlicensed over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency exchange business, facilitating the transfer—via the U.S. financial system—of over $470 million in proceeds from drug trafficking and other criminal activities to Colombia and elsewhere. He was also ordered to forfeit approximately $2.362 million in commissions and related shell-company accounts. Starting in 2018, Cartier converted cryptocurrency into fiat currency through more than ten U.S.-based shell companies, falsely representing to banks that his operations involved software development and fabricating contracts and invoices to conceal the illicit origin of funds. After law enforcement authorities seized his accounts in 2021, he continued submitting forged documents, resulting in the partial return of some funds. In October 2025, Cartier pleaded guilty to charges of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and conspiring to commit bank fraud.