Miami Resident Charged With Leading Money Laundering Operation for Transnational Criminal Organizations

Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, an indictment was unsealed charging Alain Bibliowicz Mitrani, a resident of Miami, Florida and a citizen of France and Colombia, with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.  The defendant was charged for his role as a leader of a scheme to launder more than $300 million, including for persons affiliated with cartels and other transnational criminal organizations engaged in drug trafficking, such as the Sinaloa Cartel.  The defendant is scheduled to make his initial appearance today in federal court in the Southern District of Florida.  He will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.

John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Michael Alfonso, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI), and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (IRS-CI), announced the charges.

“As alleged, the defendant used a seemingly legitimate technology company as a front for engaging in a multi-million dollar scheme that deliberately flouted federal laws to launder over $300 million, including for cartels and transnational criminal organizations engaged in drug trafficking,” stated United States Attorney Durham.  “Today’s arrest demonstrates that this Office will arrest and vigorously prosecute those who help facilitate financing for international drug traffickers.”

“Alain Bibliowicz Mitrani’s alleged money laundering scheme crumbled today, as did any façade of legitimacy behind his purported technology business. These accusations mark the beginning of the end for an alleged criminal organization that stands accused of defrauding financial institutions and enabling the availability of narcotics to American communities. Every day, HSI’s El Dorado Task Force stands alongside our law enforcement partners in utilizing every tool in its belt to ensure the public’s wellbeing is always the priority,” Stated HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Alfonso. 

“With no regard for the rule of law, Bibliowicz supposedly laundered more than a quarter billion dollars in drug money. It’s alleged he is complicit in the moving of these illicit funds through shell companies to locations around the globe.  It’s time that he was stopped, and this arrest means Bibliowicz is no longer in the dirty-cash-washing business,” said Harry T. Chavis, Jr., IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge.

As alleged in the indictment and court filings, from approximately 2020 to 2024, the defendant was an owner and leader of a company (the “Company”) that laundered drug proceeds through United States financial institutions.  The defendant and his co-conspirators sought to have the Company appear as a legitimate technology business.  In reality, the Company’s public-facing operations were a cover for an elaborate multi-million-dollar money laundering enterprise based in Florida and Colombia.

Cartels and other transnational criminal organizations that engage in drug trafficking operate vast criminal enterprises that generate significant revenue globally by trafficking illicit narcotics.  Because these organizations generate billions of dollars in revenue annually from trafficked narcotics, they must find ways to repatriate these proceeds back to their home countries to fund their ongoing enterprises.  In many cases, drug trafficking organizations rely on separate money laundering operations, such as the Company, to repatriate their funds.  In exchange, money laundering organizations and their associates, like the defendant, earn a significant commission for taking on the risk of laundering illicit proceeds for these criminal organizations.

Here, the defendant established numerous shell companies that were used to open bank accounts that transmitted the illegal proceeds in an effort to obscure the source of the funds.  To protect the scheme from detection, the defendant lied to U.S. financial institutions about the purpose and activities of these companies, and he failed to register as a money transmitting business as required under state and federal law. In total, financial records show that the defendant and his organization laundered more than $300 million.

The defendant used his profits from this scheme for personal expenses and to fund his lavish lifestyle, including to purchase diamond pendant jewelry from designer jewelry company Van Cleef & Arpels, make payments towards his approximately $4 million Miami mansion, and fund luxury travel, including more than $16,000 on luxury hotel stays abroad in April 2023.

If convicted of the money laundering conspiracy offenses, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ and 10 years’ imprisonment on each count.  If convicted of the unlicensed money transmitting conspiracy offense, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment on that count.

The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section.  Assistant United States Attorneys Adam Amir and Philip Pilmar are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendant:

ALAIN BIBLIOWICZ MITRANI
Age: 51
Miami, Florida

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 25-CR-39 (CBA)