Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán's wife has pled guilty to charges in the United States, admitting that she assisted her husband in running his multibillion-dollar criminal business.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, dressed in a green jail uniform, pled guilty to three counts of conspiring to distribute illicit drugs, launder money, and help the Sinaloa drug cartel in federal court in Washington on Thursday.
She also acknowledged conspiring to help her husband escape from a Mexican prison in 2015 as part of her plea deal.
The 31-year-old was apprehended in February at Dulles International Airport in Virginia and has been held in custody ever since.
Coronel Aispuro sat silently as prosecutors explained how they would be able to prove her wrongdoing if she wanted to go to trial.
When asked by the judge if she had committed the charges listed by the government, she replied, “Yes,” through a translator.
Coronel faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of drug distribution alone. The other two counts against her are punishable by up to 20 years in jail and 10 years in jail, respectively.
Outside the courthouse, Coronel Aispuro's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, stated, "She is very delighted to put this behind her." “She had not anticipated being arrested after her husband was sentenced to life in prison. So, clearly, this is a difficult time. We'll get through it, though.”
Prosecutors claim Coronel Aispuro "worked closely with the Sinaloa cartel's command-and-control structure" and conspired to distribute significant amounts of drugs knowing they would be trafficked into the United States.
During his 25-year reign as Mexico's most prominent drug lord, Guzmán allegedly oversaw a cartel responsible for transporting cocaine and other drugs into the United States. They also claimed that he had ordered his "army of sicarios," or "hitmen," to kidnap, torture, and kill anyone who stood in his way.
According to the prosecutor, Anthony Nardozzi, his wife "aided and abetted" the Sinaloa cartel's goals of smuggling drugs into the United States, assisting in the importation of more than 450,000kg (1 million pounds) of cocaine, 90,000kg of heroin, 45,000kg of methamphetamine, and about 90,000kg of marijuana.
Coronel Aispuro, according to Lichtman, was a "relatively minor participant" in the drug empire. He explained, "She was a very little part of this much greater phenomenon."
Her arrest earlier this year came as a shock, in part because officials had made no attempt to apprehend her in the preceding two years, despite the fact that she had been implicated in her husband's crimes. During Guzmán's 2019 trial, prosecutors said she assisted in the planning of Guzmán's two prison breakouts in Mexico.
Coronel Aispuro, according to Nardozzi, "acted as a go-between" when her husband was arrested, delivering messages to cartel members and conspiring with Guzmán's sons to "plan and coordinate" his jail escapes.
