Alain Bibliowicz Mitrani, a Miami resident and citizen of France and Colombia, was found guilty by a federal jury in Brooklyn on five counts related to money laundering and bank fraud. The charges stem from his role as the leader of a scheme that laundered over $300 million for drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel. The verdict followed a two-week trial before United States District Judge Carol Bagley Amon. Mitrani faces up to 70 years in prison when sentenced.
The announcement was made by 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.
“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,” added IRS-CI New York Special Agent in Charge Chavis.
Evidence presented at trial showed that between 2020 and 2024 Mitrani led an operation through Treebu—a company that claimed to be a legitimate technology business but actually served as cover for an international money laundering enterprise based out of Florida and Colombia.
Drug trafficking organizations like those involved generate significant revenue globally through narcotics sales but require sophisticated methods to repatriate these profits back home without detection by authorities. Operations such as Treebu provide these services for commissions while taking on legal risks.
Mitrani set up shell companies used to open U.S.-based bank accounts for transmitting illegal proceeds while concealing their origins from financial institutions by misrepresenting company activities or failing to register as required under state or federal law.
Profits were used by Mitrani for personal expenses including expensive jewelry purchases from Van Cleef & Arpels, payments toward his $4 million Miami mansion, luxury travel costs such as over $16,000 spent on hotel stays abroad during April 2023.
This prosecution forms part of Operation Take Back America—a Department of Justice initiative aimed at combating illegal immigration as well as eliminating cartels and transnational organized crime using resources coordinated through programs like Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Adam Amir, Lorena Michelen, David Berman—with support from Paralegal Specialists Zoubida Bicane and Tareva Torres—of the International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section.
ALAIN BIBLIOWICZ MITRANI
Age: 51
Miami, Florida
E.D.N.Y Docket No.: 25-CR-39 (CBA)
