An incarcerated Mexican businessman was found guilty Wednesday of helping to finance El Chapo’s tunnel to bust out of prison in 2015.
Businessman Rodolfo Trillo Hernández was convicted of money laundering, on behalf of El Chapo, by a Mexican federal judge. Hernández is already currently in prison in Chiapas, Mexico after having been arrested on August 19, 2015 for money laundering when he was found to illegally possess a firearm by Mexican police.
The money-laundering cartel associate, who is known by the nickname La Trilladora, channeled funds over the course of five years in part to help his pal El Chapo. Over the years, La Trilladora cleaned up 954 million Mexican Pesos which is worth approximately 50.66 million U.S. dollars.
El Chapo and La Trilladora have ties that date back to 2001 according to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office. La Trilladora leveraged his investments in currency exchange services throughout Mexico on behalf of El Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel, including in Sinaloa State.
Over the years as a successful money launderer, La Trilladora used, “his own name, three fake names, and 16 bank accounts,” according to Mexican news site Milenio. Some of the money man’s cash went towards building the tunnel that El Chapo escaped out of Altiplano prison from on July 11, 2015.
El Chapo’s jailbreak caught the world’s attention for its brazenness along with the innovative use of an almost mile-long underground tunnel from his prison to freedom. The tunnel itself has been studied to the point of getting its own exhibit at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas.
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