Chile Requests the Extradition of Two Venezuelans Who Laundered Nearly USD 19 Million for the Tren de Aragua

The Metropolitan South Prosecutor's Office of Santiago formally charged two Venezuelan citizens on Monday in their absence, members of an extensive network that laundered around USD 85 million for the Tren de Aragua in Chile, in order to initiate their extradition process from the U.S., where they remain detained due to an international alert. The first is Marcos de Jesús Reyes Acosta, owner of a "front" company called BexGroup, and the second is his "white pawn," Willasander Tejedor Ruiz. Together, they managed to divert approximately $17.270 million (USD 19 million) in cryptocurrencies to Colombia. "The court granted the first part of this process, where it acknowledged the foundational evidence for the participation of the accused, as well as the existence of the crimes and the necessity to request this extradition," stated prosecutor Milibor Bugueño. The prosecutor detailed that USD 300,000 in digital currency had already been frozen for the accused Marcos de Jesús Reyes. Due to this, "for us as the Prosecutor's Office, this stage is quite important, and we will continue with the next steps to extradite the accused so that he can face the corresponding charges for his actions here in Chile," he concluded.

In June of last year, the San Miguel Guarantee Court in Santiago held a hearing for 17 accused in the so-called "Operation Tokyo," 14 of whom were placed in preventive detention and three under house arrest, including an 80-year-old woman. All are of Venezuelan nationality, and among those imprisoned are two banking executives - José Carlos Pérez Asencio and Rossana Magdalena Blanco Blanco - as well as Bárbara Hernández, alias "Barbie," identified by authorities as a member of the operational front line of the criminal structure, who became key due to a lapse that allowed the investigation against the money laundering network to open. The group operated like a true "event production company," extorting nightclub owners in Santiago to then hold parties at their venues, sell drugs, and prostitute women. The profits from these illegal activities went to one of the leaders of the criminal organization, Carlos "Bobby" Gómez, linked to the murder of former Venezuelan military man Ronald Ojeda in Santiago, who is currently imprisoned in Colombia awaiting his extradition to Chile. The downfall of the gang began after a mega-party organized by this faction of the Tren de Aragua that ended with the death of five people by gunfire in a plot in the Santiago commune of Lampa in 2024. "Barbie" was present during the quintuple homicide but, upon escaping the scene, dropped her cell phone. Forensic analysis by the PDI of the electronic device revealed records of extortions to nightclubs, chats with leaders of the organization in Venezuela, direct links to the criminal network, contacts with banking executive José Carlos Pérez Asensio, and messages related to Carlos "Bobby" Gómez. Due to this, the Colombian National Police and detectives from the Chilean PDI also raided the prison in Bogotá where "Bobby" Gómez is held, formally charged in absentia by Chilean justice for the crimes of criminal association, drug trafficking, and double kidnapping with homicide.

According to the metropolitan regional prosecutor of the South Prosecutor's Office, Héctor Barros, the gang's profits were funneled into the formal banking system through two "front" companies—one of which is BexGroup, owned by Marcos de Jesús Reyes Acosta—created "six days in advance, with the same address, both providing IT services as their business, where overnight they appear with zero pesos in profitability, and after six months, seven months, they show up with $3 million, $4 million pesos." Thanks to these companies, they reached other multinationals, "to mix the money through crypto-assets, with the aim of ultimately determining where the funds ended up," concluded the prosecutor.

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