Colombian Crypto Broker’s $USDT Exit Ends With 160 Months Behind Bars

Colombian crypto broker Leonardo de Jesus Zuluaga Duque received a 160-month prison sentence, or more than 13 years, for laundering approximately $14.5 million and conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026.

The case also exposed a larger financial operation handling hundreds of millions of dollars. Between May and November 2023, Zuluaga Duque worked alongside several associates to move drug trafficking proceeds through a cross-border cryptocurrency laundering network.

The network converted the criminal proceeds into $USDT in Colombia before transferring the stablecoin to an American intermediary in exchange for U.S. dollars. Those dollars then traveled through American shell companies before returning to Colombian businesses, where they were converted into pesos and distributed.

At the center of the American operation was Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, an Argentine citizen who claimed connections to the famous Cartier jewelry dynasty.