The CEO of a cross-border currency exchange business, who used to live and work in San Diego, was arrested Thursday in an alleged murder-for-hire plot, federal prosecutors said.
Marcos Arturo Kleiman Tronllan, 40, CEO of MoneyFlip LLC, formerly known as MXN Financial LLC, allegedly paid undercover federal agents to kill a Mexican businessman over money Kleiman claimed the man owed him, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Earlier this week, agents showed Kleiman photographs and videos that supposedly showed the victim had been tortured and killed, then demanded payment, to which Kleiman allegedly replied, “Okay. Count on…count on it,” prosecutors allege.
Kleiman was arrested Thursday morning in Miami, where he currently resides. He’s expected to be extradited to San Diego to face federal charges.
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The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Kleiman was initially under investigation for allegedly using his business to launder drug proceeds in San Diego and Imperial counties.
Undercover Homeland Security Investigations agents reached out to Kleiman in February and asked him to convert their money into cryptocurrency while suggesting the money came from drug sales, prosecutors said.
Kleiman allegedly converted about $750,000 of the money provided by agents into cryptocurrency, then at some point agreed to pay $40,000 if they would kidnap and kill the Mexican businessman and recover the money he was owed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
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