In the Mar Egeo condominium complex in Iquique, across from Playa Brava, lived a family that presented itself as just another group of businesspeople from that city’s Free Trade Zone (Zofri), with legally constituted companies and business operations in good standing. Thousands of kilometers away, senior citizens in the United States were receiving invitations to download an investment app that promised significant returns. When any of them began to grow suspicious or tried to withdraw their profits, the app would simply disappear from their phones.
Behind it all was the Chen Clan, a family of Chinese origin that had set up 16 front companies and another 48 shell companies to launder more than US$200 million obtained from scams targeting seniors. The Zofri, with its high volume of legitimate commercial activity, was the perfect setting to camouflage operations that, at first glance, appeared to be part of normal business.
Money laundering has always existed, and front companies are nothing new either. What we refused to see for years is that this phenomenon could be much closer to us than we realized. Today, various signs are forcing us to face an uncomfortable reality: that behind a legitimate company—with a tax ID number (RUT), a business line, and an office—illicit activity may also be hidden.
For this reason, this reality is being taken more seriously today than ever before. This is demonstrated by the Confederation of Production and Commerce (CPC), which last July presented the report “Toward a Chile Free of the Illicit Economy,” prepared in collaboration with 30 trade associations and companies. The study estimates that illicit markets nationwide exceed US$5.7 billion and warns that we are not dealing with isolated crimes, but rather with an illicit economic ecosystem that exploits activities, strategic distribution chains, and structures within the formal economy to operate. Furthermore, it highlights that the country’s own strengths—such as its macroeconomic stability, open trade policies, and a well-developed logistics and financial infrastructure—can be exploited by criminal networks to infiltrate that very ecosystem.
Among its 45 proposals, the report suggests developing a National Policy Against Illicit Economies that recognizes the systemic nature of the phenomenon and coordinates the various stakeholders; strengthening the traceability of financial flows to track the money trail and dismantle informal economic circuits; and implementing an integrated system for secure and anonymous reporting.
Along the same lines, the National Chamber of Commerce (CNC) and the Internal Revenue Service (SII) recently launched the “Sin Fachadas” platform to anonymously report businesses that raise suspicions. The response was immediate: 85 reports on the first day and more than 200 within 48 hours, concentrated in barbershops, hair salons, and beauty salons, “Chinese malls,” and fast-food outlets. While these are perceptions rather than evidence, they reflect a deep-seated public distrust.
What is significant is that we are seeing the government, trade associations, and the public taking action against a problem that we have struggled to acknowledge for far too long—and that speaks to something essential to life in society: collaboration. Money laundering is not someone else’s problem, but a challenge that involves us all and cannot be tackled in isolation. It is time to act together, understanding that we all have a role to play.
But this good news also brings a challenge. These proposals will only be meaningful if they translate into concrete actions. A national policy, new reporting mechanisms, or enhanced oversight tools require resources, coordination, and follow-through. Otherwise, we run the risk that the initiatives we celebrate today will end up as nothing more than good ideas that never made it off the drawing board.
The call, then, is to each and every one of us—authorities, labor unions, businesses, and the public—to ensure that this momentum is not diluted in the legislative process or in the complacency of waiting for others to act first, but rather that it translates into results, where everyone does their part—including speaking up when something doesn’t add up. Because, as the Chen Clan case has shown us—and so many others that have come to light recently—those who launder money don’t always look like criminals. They may have a tax ID number, an office, and all their paperwork in order.
The Chen Clan has already been brought down. The question is: how many similar stories are still unknown to us?
By Susana Sierrra
Published in La Tercera
