A purported descendant of the Cartier jewelry family has been sentenced to prison in the U.S. after being convicted for running a crypto money laundering network.
Last October, Maximilien de Hoop Cartier pled guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in connection with allegations that he operated an unregistered crypto exchange and created numerous shell companies to facilitate the laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars generated by illicit activity.
Now, Cartier has been sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to forfeit the US$2.4 million he earned from the scheme by a U.S. district court judge in the Southern District of New York. He was also ordered to forfeit his shell companies’ bank accounts.
According to court filings, starting in 2018, Cartier began operating an over-the-counter (OTC) crypto exchange and a large network of U.S.-based shell companies that was used to convert crypto into hard currency, to enable the laundering of US$470 million in illicit proceeds, including money from the illegal drug trade.
Allegedly, he opened more than a dozen accounts at U.S. banks for various shell companies, claiming that they were in the software publishing and development business; and, falsified contracts, invoices and other business records to make it look like they were legitimate businesses. He then received proceeds of crime in crypto, which he converted into hard currency and deposited into the shell companies’ accounts, before being transferred to further hide its origin.
“Maximilien de Hoop Cartier exploited his knowledge of U.S. and international financial systems to launder drug money and other crime proceeds,” said Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the SDNY, in a release.
“De Hoop Cartier created a network of shell companies and crypto accounts to wash and conceal criminal proceeds. He used that network to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars from the United States to overseas criminal organizations, fueling their continued illicit operations,” he added.