Chile recently cracked down on money laundering schemes that included moving millions of dollars to various countries, including Venezuela, Colombia, the US, Paraguay, Mexico, Spain and Argentina. Tren de Aragua used crypto assets to wash some of these criminal funds.
Chile dismantles Tren de Aragua’s crypto money laundering operation
Cryptocurrency has become yet another tool in criminal organization arsenals, washing up funds. Chilean authorities recently reported the demolition of Tren del Mar, a business that Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua used to wash US and Latin American funds.
The business, run last month, includes the arrests of 52 individuals who introduced illegally acquired funds into the Chilean financial system using a set of bank accounts and cryptocurrency assets, followed by Venezuela, Colombia, the US, Paraguay, Mexico, Mexico, Spain and Argentina.
According to Trinidad Steinat, a district prosecutor in Tarapaka, the laundry funds were obtained through human trafficking, murder, trickery, terror, immigration smuggling, drug trafficking and fines.
Reports show that more than $13.5 million has been washed for trending Aragua due to the rapid expansion from Venezuela to other countries on the continent, including the US.
Mexican security expert David Saucedo says that criminal groups adopted the trick from Mexican cartels, which pioneered the use of cryptocurrency for these purposes.
Speaking to DW, he said:
As you can imagine, Venezuela does not have any major cryptocurrency transactions, but as it is in contact with the Mexican crime mafia, it has begun using money laundering tactics such as the use of cryptocurrency.
Saucedo explained that cryptocurrency transactions are useful for these groups to obfuscate the origins of funds. “They are difficult to track and transactions can be done without leaving traces. They are done electronically and do not require physical transactions, documents or bills,” he emphasized.
Last year, the organization was designated as a cross-border criminal organization by the Bureau of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). OFAC claims that Tren de Aragua “penetrated the local criminal economy in South America and established cross-border financial operations” and “washed funds through cryptocurrency.”
Read more: Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua is approved by OFAC for crypto money laundering claims
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