Overview
- U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil imposed an eight-year prison term and ordered forfeiture of $2.36 million and several shell-company bank accounts.
- Prosecutors said Cartier’s unlicensed over-the-counter crypto exchange moved more than $470 million in illicit funds.
- Over-the-counter trading means large deals happen off public exchanges, which made it easier to convert cryptocurrency to cash for clients who wanted secrecy.
- The network sent criminal proceeds, including drug money, through U.S. banks and into Colombia, according to court filings.
- Agents previously seized about $937,000 in 2021, highlighting partial recovery compared with the sums alleged and the difficulty of tracing cross-border flows.