The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has accused the heir to the Cartier jewelry house and five Colombian citizens of laundering proceeds from drug trafficking through the USDT stablecoin.

According to the case materials, Maximilien de Hoop Cartier has been managing an over-the-counter platform for illegal trading transactions with cryptocurrencies since 2020.

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of illegal transactions were conducted on the platform. Of this, $14.5 million was legalized through over-the-counter transactions using the USDT stablecoin.

For financial transactions, shell companies were used, such as Bullpix Solutions LLC, Vintech Capital LLC, VC Innovated Technologies LLC, AZ Technologies LLC, Softmill LLC.

“Maximilian de Hoope Cartier and the others arrested were members of a network that laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in drug trafficking proceeds using cryptocurrency and the U.S. financial system,” prosecutors said.

Maximilian de Hoop Cartier is accused of money laundering, bank fraud and running an unlicensed money transfer business. He and five Colombian citizens face more than twenty years in prison on the combined charges.

Earlier, the prosecutor's office for the northern district of California brought charges against three former top managers of the crypto lender Cred. According to investigators, the officials took part in a conspiracy to commit fraud and launder customer funds.