Emma Coronel, wife of Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín
El Chapo
Guzmán, will foreseeably plead guilty this Thursday to the federal criminal charges against which she is charged in the United States for
having helped her husband run his multimillion-dollar criminal empire.
Coronel, 31, appears in federal court in Washington, DC, in a hearing after reaching a plea agreement, according to documents released to the judge.
She had previously pleaded not guilty
after being charged in a single-count criminal complaint with conspiring to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the United States.
Colonel, a Mexican and American national, was arrested in February at Dulles International Airport, in Washington, DC
The guilt of Emma Coronel will prevent the Sinaloa Cartel from unleashing "greater violence," says an expert
June 9, 202101: 52
Coronel's attorneys have been in negotiations with federal authorities to reach a plea deal for months, defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman acknowledged in an April interview.
"We continue in talks with the government exploring the possibility of reaching an agreement," another of his lawyers, Mariel Colón, told Noticias Telemundo, "evaluating the possibility of reaching a plea deal."
Colón explained that Coronel has "good days and there are days that are not so good."
On his last visit he noticed her "calm and positive."
"Obviously missing her girl. She can communicate with the girls on a weekly basis," he added.
Prosecutors have alleged that Coronel
"worked closely with the command and control structure"
of the Sinaloa cartel and conspired to distribute large quantities of drugs, knowing they would be trafficked to the United States.
Her arrest came as a surprise in part because the authorities appeared to have done nothing to arrest her in the past two years, even after she was implicated in the crimes committed by her husband.
During
El Chapo's
trial
in 2019,
prosecutors said she helped orchestrate the kingpin's two prison breaks in Mexico.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, poses for a mugshot after being booked into the Alexandria Adult Detention Center on February 22, 2021 in Alexandria, Virginia. Alexandria Sheriff's Office via Getty Images
Guzmán, who was Mexico's most powerful drug trafficker, led the Sinaloa cartel, responsible for trafficking cocaine and other drugs to the United States during his 25-year rule, according to prosecutors.
They added that their
"army of hitmen" had orders to kidnap, torture and kill anyone who got in their way.
El Chapo
is
currently
serving a life sentence plus 30 years in the Florence Maximum Security Prison, Colorado.
The Sinaloan capo was convicted of 10 charges, including multiple cocaine distribution accounts in the United States.
Now his wife faces a sentence that could range from 10 years in prison to life in prison, according to Lichtman.
With information from The Associated Press.