A U.S. court has sentenced Maximilien de Hoop Cartier to eight years in prison for operating an unlicensed over-the-counter crypto exchange that prosecutors said moved more than $470 million in drug proceeds through U.S. bank accounts to Colombia.

Cartier is a descendant of the Cartier luxury jewelry family. He previously pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, prosecutors said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the statement, Cartier's exchange consisted of a large network of U.S.-based shell companies and more than a dozen accounts at U.S. banks, which he maintained by misrepresenting the nature of his businesses to financial institutions.

Prosecutors said Cartier fraudulently claimed the businesses operated in software publishing and software development. In reality, the entities were used to receive and transmit drug money and other crime proceeds, with Cartier using forged contracts, invoices and other business records to make transactions appear legitimate to banks.

Cartier received drug money in cryptocurrency form, prosecutors noted, adding that he converted the crypto to hard currency before depositing the cash into shell company accounts he controlled and transmitting the funds to other nodes in the money laundering network. The funds were ultimately withdrawn in local currency in Colombia.

In addition to the prison term, Cartier was ordered to pay roughly $2.36 million in forfeiture, an amount representing the commissions he retained for his role in the network. The court further ordered the forfeiture of specific bank accounts held in the names of the shell companies used in the scheme.

The sentencing follows a separate April 2021 investigation where a court seized approximately $937,000 in drug trafficking proceeds from Cartier's shell accounts. 

While Cartier and his legal counsel successfully negotiated for the return of a portion of those funds by claiming to have active anti-money laundering and know-your-customer protocols, prosecutors noted that these claims and the provided business records were fraudulent. Cartier later admitted to federal agents that he had lied to banks regarding his status as a crypto exchange.

Separately in France, prosecutors have charged 88 individuals, including 10 minors, in connection with a series of kidnappings and extortions targeting cryptocurrency owners. The charges are tied to 12 ongoing judicial investigations.