US indicts nine in crypto laundering scheme linked to drug cartels

A major money laundering network powered by cryptocurrencies linked to international drug cartels has been dismantled by United States federal authorities.

The charges follow a multi-agency operation involving Homeland Security Investigations, the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit, and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, which found that the defendants used cryptocurrencies to launder drug money from the U.S. to cartels operating out of Mexico and Colombia in between 2020 and mid-2023.

Court documents reveal that the operation involved coordinating the delivery of cash and cryptocurrency to black-market exchangers, with some participants acting as couriers, physically transporting cash between various U.S. cities.

All nine face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. So far, three other individuals connected to the case have already been convicted.

Cryptocurrencies, with their borderless appeal and transactional opacity using tools like crypto mixers, have provided cartels with a modern loophole—transforming traditional money laundering into a digital operation that’s harder to trace but just as lucrative.