Son of drug lord ‘El Chapo’ set for guilty plea in US trafficking case

Ovidio Guzman Lopez plans to alteration his not blameworthy plea during a proceeding aft apprehension successful 2023.

A lad of the infamous Mexican cause cartel brag Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is expected to plead blameworthy successful a wide-ranging United States cause trafficking lawsuit astatine a tribunal proceeding successful Chicago.

Court records for Ovidio Guzman Lopez bespeak helium intends to alteration his not-guilty plea arsenic portion of a woody with national prosecutors astatine the proceeding connected Friday.

If confirmed, it would beryllium the archetypal clip 1 of El Chapo’s sons has struck specified an agreement.

Federal prosecutors allege that Ovidio and his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who became known locally arsenic Los Chapitos, led a almighty faction of the notorious Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

They are accused of masterminding a large fentanyl trafficking cognition that funnelled what prosecutors described arsenic a “staggering” magnitude of the synthetic opioid into the US. The US has suffered a large opioid situation successful the past fewer decades, which has resulted successful ample numbers of deaths, addiction, and lawsuits.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is presently serving a beingness condemnation successful a US national situation pursuing a 2019 conviction. After his capture, Ovidio Guzman Lopez and his siblings reportedly took connected cardinal enactment roles wrong the cartel.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested by Mexican authorities successful aboriginal 2023 and extradited to the US months later. He primitively pleaded not blameworthy to cause trafficking, wealth laundering and firearms charges.

His brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, and longtime cartel person Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada were arrested successful Texas successful 2024 aft arriving connected a backstage plane. Both men person pleaded not blameworthy to aggregate charges.

Their high-profile seizure acceptable disconnected a question of unit crossed Sinaloa arsenic rival factions scrambled for control, vying for power of routes utilized to nutrient and transport narcotics, including fentanyl, that are often destined for the US.

The groups are divided betwixt members loyal to the Sinaloa Cartel cofounders, “El Chapo” Guzman and Zambada.