The wife of Mexican drug dealer “El Chapo” was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday. US District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced Emma Coronel Aispuro, 32, in a federal court in Washington on Tuesday, adding that she will forfeit $1,499,970 as part of her sentence. Federal prosecutors requested a four-year sentence, according to court documents. US District Judge Rudolph Contreras also imposed a $300 special assessment fine for each of the three counts to which she pleaded guilty.
Coronel addressed the court before learning her fate and expressed deep remorse for her involvement with Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel and the harm she may have caused the citizens of the US. She acknowledged it would be difficult for the judge to ignore the fact she is Guzman’s wife and he might feel an obligation to impose a harsher sentence. She said she accepted full responsibility and begged the judge to consider her 9-year-old twins who will already be forced to grow up without one parent when imposing his sentence.
At the end of the hearing the judge said to Coronel, “Good luck. Hope you raise your twins in a different environment than what you have experienced to date. Good luck.” She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine for importation into the US; conspiracy to launder monetary instruments; and violating the Kingpin Act by engaging in transactions and dealings in property of her husband, a significant foreign narcotics trafficker designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury.
Following the hearing, Lichtman said the sentence reflected his client’s involvement.
“Her role was simply to be the wife, that’s what her role was period,” Lichtman said.
“The guidelines reflect somebody who’s involved in a very large conspiracy of which they’re a very tiny person and that’s what the facts show. That’s what the judge saw. It’s what the government saw. We’ve been saying this from the beginning. That’s why the guidelines were as low as they were,” he added.
