Wife of drug kingpin 'El Chapo' pleads guilty

WASHINGTON: The wife of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman pleaded guilty Thursday to charges in the U.S. and admitted that she helped her husband run his multibillion-dollar criminal empire.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, wearing a green jail uniform, appeared in federal court in Washington and pleaded guilty to three federal offenses as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

The charges include knowingly and willfully conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine for several years. She also pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy charge and to engaging in transactions with a foreign narcotics trafficker.

The 31-year-old was arrested in February at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and has been jailed since then.

"She is very happy to put this behind her," Coronel Aispuro's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said outside the courthouse. "She didn't expect to get arrested after her husband received life in prison. So, this is obviously a troubling time."

Prosecutors provided evidence that alleges Coronel Aispuro was personally involved with the Sinaloa cartel and conspired to distribute large quantities of drugs, knowing they would be smuggled into the U.S.

Lichtman insisted that Coronel Aisupro was a "very minimal participant" in the drug empire. "She was a very small part of this much larger thing," he said.

Her arrest earlier this year was a surprise in part because authorities had made no move to arrest her over the past two years, even after she was implicated in her husband's crimes. During Guzman's trial in 2019, prosecutors said she helped orchestrate Guzman's two prison breaks in Mexico.

Mike Balsamo, a reporter for the Associated Press, said the judge set sentencing for September and that the charges carry a range of penalties from serving 10 years behind bars to life to prison.

"It's important to also keep in mind that in the federal system, there are sentencing guidelines that a judge would follow, which means that there's not a set sentencing amount," Balsamo said. "They go on a multitude of factors, including reports by the federal probation officials and filings that she'll make and the government will make in recommending a sentence. So it's not totally clear exactly what sentence she will face, but these are obviously very significant charges which carry significant penalties."