Chilean prosecutors seek arrest of Plusspay founder over alleged $84 million laundering network

Chilean prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for 38-year-old Plusspay founder Jose Manuel Rios Guaido, accusing him of laundering money for Tren de Aragua, the criminal group tied to human trafficking, smuggling, and drug trafficking. For PSPs and crypto payment operators, the case is a reminder that fiat-to-stablecoin flows, shell companies, and local licensing gaps are exactly where regulators and prosecutors start digging.

1. According to prosecutors, police raided Plusspay offices in Providencia, Santiago, during Operación Tokio. Guaido was not found at the raid sites, and police believe he may have left Chile for Venezuela or Colombia.
2. The alleged mechanism is straightforward enough to make compliance teams wince: Plusspay reportedly took transfers in Chilean pesos, converted them mainly into stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, and then moved the assets to wallets and bank accounts abroad. Prosecutors say Guaido created several shell companies with the Bex prefix — BexGroup, BexDigital Services and Bexpay Business Enterprises — to move allegedly illicit funds through Chile’s banking system.
3. Investigators say suspicious transactions through Plusspay totaled more than $84 million. They also found a related company in Florida. Guaido and his compatriot Jesús Alberto Morillo Medina founded Inversiones Plusservice in 2021, launched the Plusspay domain in 2023, and registered as a financial services provider with Chile’s Comisión para el Mercado Financiero (CMF) in early 2024.
4. The CMF said that registration alone is not enough to operate in Chile: firms also need authorization for the specific type of activity they want to carry out. The regulator also said Inversiones Plusservice had not updated its data in line with regulatory requirements.
5. After the police raid, Plusspay suspended operations. A banner on its website says the shutdown is due to “legal reasons beyond the platform’s control.” The company denies any link to illegal activity or criminal groups and says its team has hired lawyers to prove its innocence.

The Tren de Aragua angle matters here because the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC sanctioned the group in 2024. Prosecutors say the organization moved from simple bank transfers to more layered structures involving shell firms, multiple bank accounts, and crypto conversion — a pattern that high-risk PSPs will recognize immediately, and not in a good way.