Marcos Tronllan, chief executive officer of MoneyFlip LLC, a registered money services business offering cross-border currency exchange services, was arrested in Miami on Thursday in connection with a federal complaint filed in San Diego alleging that Mr Tronllan hired a hitman to murder someone over an unpaid debt.

Mr Tronllan, a Mexican citizen and permanent resident of the United States who previously worked and lived in San Diego, was taken into custody by Homeland Security Investigations agents and Homeland Security Task Force partners.

During an ongoing investigation into money exchange businesses in San Diego and Imperial counties, agents identified Mr Tronllan as a suspected money launderer.

According to the complaint, Mr Tronllan previously owned and operated a licensed money service business known as MXN Financial LLC, which was an international wholesale currency dealer and currency exchange operating within the Southern District of California.

In 2025, MXN Financial LLC changed its name to MoneyFlip LLC, where Mr Tronllan remains the CEO.

Investigators suspected that Mr Tronllan used his business to engage in cross-border currency transactions that evaded Bank Secrecy Act filing requirements and to launder illicit proceeds from drug sales that were further placed and layered into the financial system through money service businesses near the U.S-Mexico border.

In February of 2026, undercover Homeland Security Investigations agents contacted Mr Tronllan, asking him to convert United States dollars into cryptocurrency.

These undercover agents made representations to Mr Tronllan that their dollars came from drug sales, and among many statements Mr Tronllan made indicating he understood the money’s source, he allegedly said, “Give me the major details. I need to know if . . .what you have is clean or if it’s dirty. I mean, I don’t get scared, dude.”

To facilitate the illicit financial transactions, Mr Tronllan allegedly created a unique email account, shared its password with the undercover agents, and announced that they would communicate by leaving draft emails in the account so that no emails were ever sent. In total, Mr Tronllan converted $750,000 into cryptocurrency and caused the transmission of those crypto coins into an undercover federal agent’s wallet.

Mr Tronllan charged a 10 per cent fee.

During the money laundering discussions, Mr Tronllan allegedly asked undercover federal agents if they would help recover a debt from a Mexican businessman and kill the man. Mr Tronllan agreed to pay $40,000 to kidnap and murder the businessman, with two $5,000 “deposits” to be paid in advance.  

In May 2026, Mr Tronllan arranged for a third party to deliver a $5,000 cash “deposit” to one of the undercover agents in San Diego, the complaint said.

Then, in early July of 2026, one of the undercover agents asked Mr Tronllan for a second $5,000 deposit to “reserve the savages” and told Mr Tronllan “whether (the victim) pays or not he will be left dead on the side of the road”. Mr Tronllan responded by telling the undercover agent, “I will get those 5 ready for you in 2–3 weeks.”

According to the complaint, Mr Tronllan later paid the second “deposit” for the murder.

On July 28, the undercover agents showed Mr Tronllan three photographs and one video purporting to show the victim captured, tortured and killed. One of the agents then told Mr Tronllan that “they already killed the guy, so those people need to get paid”.

Mr Tronllan responded, “Okay. Count on…count on it.”

The next day, July 29, Mr Tronllan delivered a $5,000 cash payment to the undercover agents and transmitted approximately 25,000 USDT into an undercover cryptocurrency wallet as the final payments for the victim’s murder.