Overview

• In a July 11 hearing before Judge Sharon J. Coleman, the 35-year-old son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán admitted guilt on five federal counts ranging from narcotics distribution and money laundering to firearms offenses.
• All charges were consolidated in the Northern District of Illinois under a Rule 20 agreement after off-the-record negotiations between his defense team and U.S. prosecutors.
• The U.S. Department of Justice has hailed his cooperation as a strategic setback to the Sinaloa cartel’s fentanyl trafficking network across the country.
• Guzmán López, who coordinated logistics for the Los Chapitos faction, remains in custody at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center and faces sentencing in roughly six months.
• Extradited from Mexico in September 2023, his plea deal secures potential sentence reductions in exchange for intelligence on cartel operations.