El Chapo's Son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, Pleads Guilty To Federal Drug Charges

CHICAGO – Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of the infamous drug Sinaloa Cartel leader, Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as “El Chapo,” has copped a plea to federal drug charges.

Guzman Lopez, 39, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of drug conspiracy and one count of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. The convictions carry a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in federal prison and a maximum of life.

Guzman Lopez stated in his plea agreement that he and his three brothers — collectively known as “the Chapitos” — assumed their father’s leadership role in the Sinaloa Cartel, following El Chapo’s arrest in 2016 and subsequent conviction in the Eastern District of New York.

After the United States government successfully prosecuted El Chapo, his son, Guzman Lopez jointly led the “Los Chapitos” faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the world’s most notorious drug trafficking organizations. Under the leadership of Guzman Lopez and his associates, the Sualoa Cartek spread violence and bribed public officials to protect its illicit business.

In his plea agreement, Guzman Lopez admitted to acting as a logistical coordinator for the transportation of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and other drugs and precursor chemicals from Mexico to the United States border. At times, shipments were in the hundreds or thousands of kilograms.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Guzman Lopez used a network of couriers to smuggle the drugs into the United States using vehicles, rail cars, tunnels, aircraft, submersible vessels, and other means.

As drugs were being distributed by Guzman Lopez’s associates throughout the United States, others were laundering money and transferring the ill-gotten proceeds from the Uniter States to Mexico and elsewhere, the plea agreement stated.

Guzman Lopez also admitted that he and his cartel associates perpetrated violence against law enforcement, rival drug traffickers, and members of their own drug trafficking organization to protect the Sinaloa Cartel’s operation, the feds said

As part of his plea agreement, Guzman Lopez agreed to a personal money judgment in the amount of $80 million, which represents proceeds traceable to the offenses.

The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, as part of “Operation Take Back America,” a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to achieve various law enforcement goals—including the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

“For decades, the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office has been at the forefront of the U.S. government’s relentless pursuit of drug cartels, such as the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as their top leaders,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, of the U.S. Northern District, said in statement. “Today, because of this Administration’s leadership, the U.S. State Department has designated many of these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations—a fact that has only further stiffened our resolve to track down and hold accountable transnational criminal organizations and their highest-ranking members and associates.”

U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman has not set a sentencing date. Guzman Lopez has been detained in U.S. custody since his arrest in July 2024.