According to the case file, 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 these, $14.5 million was legalized through over-the-counter transactions using the USDT stablecoin.
Shell companies such as Bullpix Solutions LLC, Vintech Capital LLC, VC Innovative Technologies LLC, AZ Technologies LLC, Softmill LLC were used for financial transactions.
"Maximilian de Hoop Cartier and other detainees were members of a network that laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in drug trafficking proceeds using cryptocurrency and the US financial system," the prosecutor's office 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 of the northern District of California filed charges against three former top managers of the crypto-credit company Cred. According to investigators, officials participated in a conspiracy to defraud and launder customer funds.