A US court has sentenced Maximilien de Hoop Cartier to eight years in prison in a major cryptocurrency money laundering case. Prosecutors said he helped move more than $470 million in illicit proceeds through an unlicensed over-the-counter crypto exchange platform, using US banks, shell companies, and cryptocurrency accounts to send funds abroad.
Prosecutors said the network converted criminal proceeds
According to the case record, Cartier pleaded guilty in October 2025 to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. US authorities said his OTC crypto business converted digital assets into fiat currency for criminal clients. Prosecutors linked the funds to drug trafficking and other criminal activity, alleging that money was routed through the United States and then sent to Colombia and other countries.
Federal prosecutor Jay Clayton said Cartier used his knowledge of US and international financial systems to build a laundering structure made up of shell entities and crypto accounts. Authorities argued that this network concealed the origin of illegal proceeds while enabling hundreds of millions of dollars to be transferred to foreign criminal organizations.
Shell companies and false paperwork were central to the scheme
The US Department of Justice said Cartier controlled a broad network of US-based shell companies that were presented as software businesses but were actually used to convert cryptocurrency into hard currency. Investigators said he opened more than a dozen US bank accounts and used fabricated contracts, invoices, and other documents to make the transactions appear legitimate. Prosecutors described a process in which drug proceeds entered the system as cryptocurrency, were converted into cash, moved through shell-company accounts, and later withdrawn overseas in local currency.
As part of the sentence, the court ordered the forfeiture of $2,362,160.62, which prosecutors said represented Cartier’s fees for converting crypto into fiat. The court also ordered the forfeiture of certain bank accounts tied to his shell companies. In an earlier seizure, authorities confiscated three accounts after about $937,000 in drug proceeds from an undercover law enforcement account was traced into them.
Case highlights risks around unlicensed crypto services
Cartier later admitted that he had described the business to banks as technology software services rather than a cryptocurrency exchange. The case underscores how unlicensed crypto services can use ordinary banking channels to move criminal proceeds while disguising the true nature of their operations through corporate fronts and false records. It also reflects continued US enforcement pressure on money laundering channels that connect digital assets with the traditional banking system.