A descendant of the Cartier jewellery dynasty has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison after confessing to running an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange that laundered more than $470 million in drug trafficking proceeds.
Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, a French resident who moonlights as a singer under the name ‘Max Cartier’, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, April 28, after pleading guilty in October to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Cartier, 58, funneled the money through a web of US shell companies disguised as fake software and tech firms — with names like Bullpix Solutions, Softmill LLC, and VC Innovated before routing it to Colombia, prosecutors said.
The companies existed solely to receive and transmit international drug money, converting narcos’ cryptocurrency into hard currency.
To fool banks, Cartier used forged contracts and invoices to make it appear the firms were doing legitimate tech work. He deliberately broke transactions into chunks to avoid bank scrutiny.
The scheme, dubbed the “Cartier Cell” by feds, dates back to at least 2018.
The jewellery heir told an undercover FBI agent he considered a New York City hotel his second home, where he handled his crypto clients, lawyers, and banks.
In 2021, DEA agents seized nearly $940,000 from his accounts after funnelling drug proceeds into them through an undercover operation.
Cartier then walked into the US Attorney’s office in Pennsylvania with forged business records and talked prosecutors into returning a portion of the money before agents built the case that ultimately put him away.
Cartier, a French resident and Argentine citizen, was ordered to pay $2,362,160 in forfeiture, his cut of the laundering operation, and to forfeit several shell company bank accounts.
US Attorney John Clayton said that the Cartier “exploited his knowledge of US and international financial systems to launder drug money and other crime proceeds.”
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