El Chapo’s wife Emma Coronel Aispuro pleads guilty in drug case

The wife of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán pleaded guilty Thursday to helping her notorious drug lord hubby run his expansive Sinaloa Cartel.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, copped to charges including conspiracy to distribute vast amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana while working for the murderous cartel that her husband ran for years in Mexico.

The former beauty queen, who married El Chapo more than a decade ago, also pleaded guilty to money laundering and engaging in transactions and dealings in properties of a designated significant foreign narcotics trafficker.

She faces life in prison.

Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, Coronel’s only words during the hour-lnog proceeding in Washington, DC federal court were “guilty” to each of the three counts. She also confirmed that she understood she wouldn’t get a more lenient sentence because of her guilty plea.

Prosecutor Anthony Nardozzi said if the case went to trial, the feds would prove through witness testimony and evidence that Aispuro aided and abetted the objectives of the cartel and helped traffic 450 kilos of coke, 90 kilos of heroin and 45 kilos of methamphetamine.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman
Emma Coronel Aispuro married drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in 2007.
AP

She also helped traffic tens of thousands of kilos of marijuana, Nardozzi alleged.

In addition, Coronel acted as a go-between for El Chapo and other leaders of the cartel while the kingpin was locked up in a Mexican prison — and helped finance and plan his escape from the slammer in 2015, prosecutors charged.

Coronel accepted “multiple bulk cash deliveries” to finance the escape plan, Nardozzi said.

The former beauty queen married El Chapo more than a decade ago.
AP

El Chapo was sentenced to life in prison after his trial in Brooklyn federal court in 2019 and is currently serving his time at federal supermax lockup in Colorado.

Coronel was arrested in February at Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C, and has been held without bail since her arrest.

Her attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Emma Coronel Aispuro
Emma Coronel Aispuro plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute vast amounts and money laundering.
AP

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