The US Department of Justice has brought charges against the heir to the famous Cartier brand. He is accused of laundering money through the stablecoin Tether (USDT).
Maximilian de Hoop Cartier and five Colombian citizens were put under investigation. According to law enforcement officers, they participated in a whole network of laundering proceeds from drug trafficking using cryptocurrency.
What's happened
According to press release Ministry of Justice, February 22 Maximilian de Hoop Cartier, claiming to come from the famous Cartier family, was arrested in Miami, USA. A number of charges have been brought against him, for each of which Cartier faces imprisonment for up to 30 years.
Maximilian de Hoop Cartier. Source: Wikipedia
According to investigators, starting around January 2020, a descendant of a family of jewelers operated an unlicensed platform for trading digital assets. Cartier converted proceeds from drug sales and other illegal activities into USDT and then into US dollars. All transactions were carried out through a number of fictitious companies.
Over four years, hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal proceeds were laundered through the platform. From May to November 2023, the Cartier platform laundered approximately $14.5 million from drug trafficking, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.
In addition to Cartier, several Colombian citizens also faced serious charges in this case. Law enforcement accuses them of conspiring to launder money and importing more than 100 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. For this they could face life imprisonment.
The Columbia residents were taken into custody by local authorities on April 30. The case has now gone to trial.
Earlier it became known that the creator of the BTC-e crypto exchange, Alexander Vinnik, pleaded guilty to laundering $9 billion. He was arrested in 2017 on charges from the US Department of Justice. Vinnik's lawyer expects his client to be sentenced to ten years in prison.
Source: Cryptocurrency
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