After serving nearly two years out of a handed down 3-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera‘s wife Emma Coronel Aispuro has been released from U.S. custody.
RELATED: El Chapo’s Wife Most Likely Cooperating With Feds After Declining Preliminary Hearing
Back in February 2021, we first reported that Coronel had been arrested for her alleged role in an international drug trafficking ring. The then-31-year-old was arrested at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana.
Coronel, who is a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, was also accused of aiding in her husband’s escape from a Mexican prison in July 2015 (marking the second time he’d escaped prison, the first being in 2001). During her arrest, El Chapo, then 63, was already serving a life sentence in prison. He was being housed at a supermax penitentiary in Colorado.
El Chapo, who reportedly made $12.6 billion as the Sinaloa Cartel’s chief, has also tried to appeal his life sentence after being convicted in 2019 of engaging in a criminal enterprise, drug trafficking, and firearms charges.
RELATED: El Chapo’s Wife Pleads Guilty To Drug Trafficking
Following Coronel’s arrest, officials began to allege that she was “definitely cooperating” with the Feds, via alleged orders of El Chapo, and likely to enter witness protection after declining a preliminary hearing. At the time, ex-DEA officer Mike Vigil believed that El Chapo most likely advised his wife to cooperate in an avenge attempt against those who crossed him.
Further showing evidence of this, was Coronel declining a pre-trial hearing. In March 2021, she had signed off and agreed to waive [her] right to a preliminary hearing under Fed. R. Crim. P. 5.1 or Fed. R. Crim. Page 32.1.” Many attorneys claim defendants usually take a plea and/or are cooperating with prosecutors when waiving their right to a preliminary hearing.
RELATED: El Chapo’s Wife Receives Three-Year Prison Sentence For Assisting Cartel
In June 2021, Coronel pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana. In November 2021, Coronel was sentenced to three years in prison for her role in El Chapo’s narcotics empire. Her sentence also included four years of supervised release and a forfeiture of $1.5 million.
During the hearing, she expressed deep remorse for her involvement with El Chapo and the Sinaloa Cartel, and for the harm she may have caused.
On Wednesday (September 13), CNN received confirmation from Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) spokesperson Randilee Giamusso, who told them that Coronel was released from U.S. custody after serving nearly two years for drug trafficking and money laundering.
Giamusso said, “We can confirm Emma Coronel Aispuro was released from custody. For privacy, safety, and security, the FBOP does not provide additional information on those who are no longer in our custody.”
Before this, Coronel was being held at a residential reentry management facility in Long Beach, California, per the prison bureau’s inmate locator.
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