Title: Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s Wife, Emma Coronel, to be Released from Prison in Los Angeles
Published: Sep. 13, 2023, 12:59 a.m. ET
By Reuters
Los Angeles – Emma Coronel, the wife of imprisoned Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is set to be released from prison in Los Angeles on Wednesday, the US Bureau of Prisons has confirmed. Coronel, a US-born 34-year-old, was arrested in 2021 on drug trafficking charges and sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts related to her involvement with the Sinaloa drug cartel.
Coronel admitted to conspiring to launder money and distribute illegal drugs, as well as engaging in financial dealings. She also confessed to acting as a courier between Guzman and other cartel members while he was incarcerated in Mexico’s Altiplano prison following his arrest in 2014.
During her sentencing, Coronel accepted responsibility for her actions and agreed to forfeit nearly $1.5 million in proceeds from her criminal activity to the US government. As a result, her three-year sentence was later reduced. The Bureau of Prisons announced that Coronel will be released from a low-security confinement facility in Los Angeles, but no further details were provided.
Meanwhile, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is currently serving a life sentence in the US after being extradited from Mexico in 2017. Guzman famously escaped from Mexican maximum-security prisons twice, once through a mile-long tunnel dug from his cell.
Coronel’s lawyers have not yet commented on her impending release, and it is unclear whether she will face any charges for drug trafficking or other crimes in Mexico. In addition to her prison term, Coronel will also serve two years of supervised release.
Coronel and Guzman have two daughters together. They first met when Coronel was a young beauty queen, and they married in 2007 when she was just 18 years old.
As news of Coronel’s impending release spreads, many are curious about her future plans and the impact her freedom may have on the ongoing battle against drug trafficking. Only time will tell what lies ahead for the wife of one of the world’s most notorious drug lords.