Colombian National Sentenced To Over Thirteen Years For International Cryptocurrency Money Laundering Scheme Of Drug Trafficking Proceeds

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, announced today that LEONARDO DE JESUS ZULUAGA DUQUE, a/k/a "Rey"-who was charged with five other defendants in connection with schemes to launder hundreds of millions of dollars, including narcotics sale Proceeds, and import nine kilograms of cocaine into the United States-was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil to 160 months in prison. ZULUAGA DUQUE's co-defendants, Maximilien De Hoop Cartier, Erica Milena Lopez Ortiz, Felipe Estrada Echeverry, Alexander Egidio Areiza Ceballos, and Adrian Fernando Areiza Ceballos were previously sentenced by Judge Vyskocil.

"Thanks to the diligence of our law enforcement partners and the career prosecutors of this Office, the defendants have now been held accountable for their brazen criminal conduct," said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. "The defendant and his conspirators operated a sophisticated international scheme to utilize cryptocurrency, a network of shell companies in the U.S. and Colombia, and numerous crypto accounts, to exploit the U.S. financial system to launder the proceeds of hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money and other criminal proceeds. Such conduct reduces trust in the financial system and endangers lives."

According to the publicly filed charging instruments, statements made in open court, and public court filings:

ZULUAGA DUQUE was a Colombia-based cryptocurrency broker, who played a supervisory role in an international network that laundered millions in Tether (a stablecoin connected to the U.S. dollar), which constituted the proceeds of drug trafficking, through the U.S. to Colombia. In connection with his work for the network, ZULUAGA DUQUE worked with others to collect the proceeds of illicit activity, including drug trafficking, that was converted into Tether. ZULUAGA DUQUE worked with Lopez Ortiz to transfer the Tether to de Hoop Cartier, who operated an unlicensed money transmitting business that converted Tether into United States dollars. De Hoop Cartier, using a collection of U.S.-based shell companies he controlled, then transferred the United States dollars back to Colombian companies controlled by Estrada Echeverry and others. Once the criminal proceeds were converted into Colombian pesos they were delivered to Lopez Ortiz and ZULUAGA DUQUE for distribution. Between in or about May 2023 and November 2023, ZULUAGA DUQUE worked with de Hoop Cartier, Lopez Ortiz, Estrada Echeverry, and others to launder a total of approximately $14.5 million Tether derived from the proceeds of drug trafficking. De Hoop Cartier previously pled guilty and was sentenced to eight years in prison for defrauding U.S. banks and utilizing his unlicensed money transmitting business to transmit more than $470 million in illicit proceeds through the United States.

ZULUAGA DUQUE and Lopez Ortiz also conspired with Alexander Areiza Ceballos and Adrian Areiza Ceballos to import large quantities of cocaine into the U.S. Specifically, in or about November 2023, confidential sources, at the direction of law enforcement, coordinated with Lopez Ortiz and Alexander Areiza Ceballos for the purchase of approximately nine kilograms of cocaine paste, which was to be manufactured into cocaine before being delivered to New York. For that purchase, Adrian Areiza Ceballos delivered the narcotics to an undercover officer and ZULUAGA DUQUE received a commission for helping to set up the deal. Additionally, in or about February 2024, a confidential source, at the direction of law enforcement, arranged for the purchase of approximately 100 kilograms of cocaine paste from Alexander Areiza Ceballos and Adrian Areiza Ceballos. In anticipation of this deal, the Colombian National Police executed two search warrants and recovered approximately 111 kilograms of cocaine paste from Alexander Areiza Ceballos and Adrian Areiza Ceballos.

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In addition to prison, ZULUAGA DUQUE, 63, a resident of Colombia, was sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $14,751,846 in forfeiture. He was additionally ordered to forfeit the cryptocurrency tokens previously contained in four cryptocurrency addresses that he controlled.

A chart containing the sentences of ZULUAGA DUQUE's co-defendants is below.

Mr. McDonald praised the outstanding investigative work and diligence of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") and its New York Field Office; Homeland Security Investigations' New York El Dorado Task Force; and IRS-Criminal Investigation, Global Illicit Financial Team. Mr. McDonald also thanked the FBI's Legal Attaché Office in Colombia, the Colombian National Police, the Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs, and the U.S. Embassy in Colombia.

This case is being handled by the Office's Illicit Finance & Money Laundering unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eli J. Mark, David A. Markewitz, and Jennifer Ong are in charge of the prosecution, with the assistance of paralegal specialists Renee Spilker and Angelica Cotto.