Interpol Busts Crypto Laundering Scheme Involving More Than $120 Million

Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, a French resident and descendant of the Cartier jewelry family, operated an unregistered over-the-counter cryptocurrency exchange from at least 2018. He used more than a dozen U.S. bank accounts, along with fraudulent contracts and invoices, to conceal the source of funds. He converted proceeds from drug trafficking and other crimes into fiat currency and transferred the money to Colombia, underscoring the United States’ ability to prosecute cross-border money-laundering networks.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said Cartier pleaded guilty on October 23, 2025, to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and conspiring to commit bank fraud. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil sentenced him to eight years in prison on April 28, 2026. The scheme laundered more than $470 million, and Cartier must also forfeit $2,362,160.62 in commissions and funds held in related shell-company accounts.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia established the Scam Center Strike Force in November 2025, working with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, the FBI, the Secret Service and the IRS Criminal Investigation division. The task force targets fake-investment and “pig-butchering” scams run in Southeast Asia by Chinese transnational criminal organizations. Tracing crypto assets is crucial to disrupting money laundering and compensating U.S. victims.

The Justice Department said on February 26, 2026, that the task force had frozen, seized or forfeited more than $578 million in cryptocurrency in roughly three months. It plans to pursue the assets through court proceedings and return as much as possible to victims. By April 23, the value of restrained assets had risen to $701,962,392.15. Authorities also charged two Chinese nationals, seized 503 scam websites and took control of a Telegram recruitment channel.