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A son of the co-founder of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel pleaded guilty to US drug trafficking offences on Friday and signed an agreement to aid US authorities, as American prosecutors target the global crime group for its role in supplying fentanyl.
Ovidio Guzmán, son of cartel co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, pleaded guilty to four counts, including drug distribution and participating in a continuing criminal enterprise, in a Chicago court on Friday.
In a plea agreement, he agreed to co-operate with US authorities, including testifying in any criminal or civil proceedings.
The charges to which he has pleaded guilty carry a minimum 10-year sentence and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, court filings say. He is due to be sentenced in September.
The court imposed an $80mn judgment against him, saying the figure represented proceeds that could be traced to the offences, and said it would state separately how much of that figure he would be ordered to pay.
Guzmán’s lawyer and Chicago prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Guzmán is one of four of El Chapo’s sons, known collectively as “Los Chapitos”, who led a major faction of the cartel. They oversaw a generational shift in the group towards synthetic opioids, away from plant-based drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana.
His collaboration just as the administration of President Donald Trump is stepping up pressure on Mexico City over the drug cartels has put parts of the political class on edge, local security analysts say. Guzmán is one of the most senior members of the cartel to strike a deal with prosecutors and could hand over a trove of information on their ties to sitting politicians.
Guzmán co-led a major faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. American authorities believe the group is the world’s largest network that produces illegal fentanyl, the opioid that is a leading cause of death for young Americans.
The White House has accused Mexico’s government of an “intolerable alliance” with the drug trade. The president and his team have declared the cartels terrorist organisations and refused to rule out military intervention to stop the flow of fentanyl across the border.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has increased security collaboration with the US, but pushed back against specific accusations, criticising the US for not sharing enough information or having contradictory policies.
Guzmán was extradited from Mexico to the US in 2023, while his brother Joaquín was arrested in Texas last year along with former business partner Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who said he was taken there against his will.
Rumours have swirled since about the Guzmáns doing a deal with prosecutors. In May, 17 members of his family were escorted across the border in what a Mexican official said was “clearly” part of a negotiation with US authorities.
El Chapo is serving a life sentence in Colorado after he was convicted of drug trafficking offences at the end of a widely watched trial. In their home state of Sinaloa, the two factions led by his other sons have been in a deadly battle with those loyal to Zambada since September.
The internal war has devastated the local economy and led to more than 1,600 homicides and 1,700 missing people in the state, according to counts by local newspaper Noroeste.
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