El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, pleads not guilty to drug and money laundering charges at initial Chicago court appearance

By Whitney Wild, CNN

(CNN) — Ovidio Guzmán López, son of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, pleaded not guilty to drug and money laundering charges Monday afternoon.

Making his first court appearance since being extradited from Mexico on Friday, Guzmán López wore an orange jumpsuit and restraints at the Dirksen United States Courthouse in downtown Chicago.

Prosecutors disclosed in court the death penalty was taken off the table as part of extradition negotiations with Mexican authorities, adding two of the six counts Guzmán López faces carry a mandatory life sentence.

The US had been seeking his extradition for drug trafficking, and he will be held without bond pending trial, the judge ordered.

He is due back in court for a status hearing on November 17.

CNN is working to identify Guzman’s attorney for comment.

Guzman was arrested by Mexican authorities in January of this year following a dramatic operation in the northern state of Sinaloa that led to 29 deaths. He has been in custody since then.

Following his arrest in Culiacán, chaos erupted in the city with authorities asking citizens to shelter at home as law enforcement clashed with cartel members.

At least 19 suspected gang members and 10 military personnel died during those clashes. No civilian deaths or injuries were reported.

Guzman had previously been arrested in October 2019, but was released on the orders of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to avoid bloodshed, and subsequently went into hiding until his arrest in 2023.

His extradition follows the release from a US prison of Emma Coronel Aispuro, El Chapo’s wife, on Wednesday. She had served nearly two years for drug trafficking and money laundering charges.

The state of Sinaloa, where Culiacán is located, is home to one of the world’s most powerful narcotics trafficking organizations, the Sinaloa Cartel, of which “El Chapo” was the leader.

The US State Department believes Guzman and his brother, Joaquín Guzman-Lopez, “inherited a great deal of the narcotics proceeds” following the death of another brother, Edgar Guzman-Lopez.

It alleges they “began investing large amounts of the cash into the purchasing of marijuana in Mexico and cocaine in Colombia.”

“They also began purchasing large amounts of ephedrine from Argentina and arranged for the smuggling of the product into Mexico as they began to experiment with methamphetamine production,” the State Department said.

The brothers are also alleged to oversee an estimated 11 “methamphetamine labs in the state of Sinaloa,” according to the State Department.

Guzman’s father, “El Chapo,” famously escaped from Altiplano prison on July 11, 2015, through a mile-long tunnel that featured a motorcycle on tracks.

He was later captured and convicted in the US four years later of 10 counts, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, drug trafficking and firearms charges.

He was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years and ordered to pay $12.6 billion in forfeiture.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Juliana Gonzales and Brad Parks contributed to this report.