A French man was sentenced to 8 years for laundering over 470 million dollars using shell companies and cryptocurrency accounts

French national Maximilien de Hoop Cartier was sentenced to 8 years in prison by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for operating an unlicensed over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency exchange, assisting in the transfer of over $470 million in drug trafficking and other criminal proceeds through the U.S. financial system to Colombia and other locations, and was ordered to forfeit approximately $2.362 million in commissions and related shell company accounts.

Since 2018, Cartier converted cryptocurrency into fiat currency through more than a dozen U.S. shell companies, falsely claiming to banks that he was engaged in software development and forging contracts and invoices to cover the source of funds. After law enforcement agencies seized his accounts in 2021, he still submitted forged documents, resulting in some funds being returned. In October 2025, Cartier pleaded guilty to two charges of operating an unlicensed remittance business and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.