Alain Bibliowicz Mitrani, a resident of Miami, Florida and citizen of France and Colombia, was found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn on charges related to laundering over $300 million for transnational criminal organizations. The conviction includes counts of money laundering conspiracy, bank fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, and operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business. The verdict followed a two-week trial before United States District Judge Carol Bagley Amon. Mitrani faces up to 70 years in prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Mitrani led a scheme that laundered proceeds from drug cartels such as the Sinaloa Cartel through financial institutions in the United States and abroad. Authorities stated that much of this activity occurred between 2020 and 2024.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Ricky J. Patel, Special Agent in Charge at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York; and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge at Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) New York announced the verdict.
“With today’s verdict, the defendant’s prolific money laundering of drug proceeds is all washed up,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “The defendant and his co-conspirators converted illicit proceeds in the form of cryptocurrency from drug cartels in Colombia and Mexico into dirty cash using a series of bank accounts and complex financial transactions, here and abroad. Then he sent this dirty money back to the drug traffickers, fueling their criminal enterprises while enriching himself with hefty fees he charged for his laundering. But thanks to the excellent work of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, the defendant’s operation has been shut down, and the only laundering he will be handling in the future will be in a federal prison laundromat.”
Nocella also acknowledged assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York Field Office.
“The defendant’s $300 million money laundering empire fueled untold violence and chaos on behalf of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations. Our message to money launderers is clear: if you think you can bankroll drug cartels and criminal enterprises from the shadows, we will find you, expose you, and shut you down,” said HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Patel. “We’re working relentlessly every day with our partners to trace illicit funds and dismantle transnational criminal networks.”
“Bibliowicz Mitrani is complicit in moving more than a quarter billion dollars in drug money through shell companies to locations around the world. In serving his criminal clientele with his dirty money-washing business, he lived a rich lifestyle with a multi-million-dollar mansion and lavish purchases. IRS-CI follows all money, even when it is dirty, and there is no hiding it from our expert investigators. Today’s conviction is a good reminder of that,” said IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis.
Prosecutors showed during trial that Mitrani owned Treebu—a company presented as legitimate but actually used as cover for extensive international money laundering operations based out of Florida and Colombia.
To conceal illegal proceeds’ origins further—and avoid detection—Mitrani set up shell companies used for opening bank accounts through which funds were transmitted illegally while providing false information about these businesses’ activities to U.S. banks; he also failed to register these entities as required by law.
Records show profits were spent on personal luxury expenses including expensive jewelry purchases from Van Cleef & Arpels; payments toward an approximately $4 million Miami mansion; luxury travel; including over $16,000 on hotels abroad during April 2023.
This case falls under Operation Take Back America—a nationwide Department of Justice initiative targeting illegal immigration threats as well as organized crime such as cartel-related activities—using resources pooled across multiple DOJ task forces focused on drugs enforcement.
The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Adam Amir, Lorena Michelen, David Berman with paralegal support from Zoubida Bicane and Tareva Torres.
ALAIN BIBLIOWICZ MITRANI
Age: 51
Miami, Florida
E.D.N.Y Docket No.: 25-CR-39 (CBA)
