Daughter of drug lord 'El Mencho' sentenced to two-and-a-half years in US prison
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The daughter of the drug lord "El Mencho" was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to violating the Kingpin Act.
Jessica Oseguera Gonzalez, 34, the daughter of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the head of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, had urged the judge to release her after serving 15 months in prison, attempting to distance herself from her father's drug-trafficking operation.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty in March to charges that she willfully engaged in "financial dealings with Mexican companies that had been identified as specially designated narcotics traffickers by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (OFAC)," according to a statement Friday from the Department of Justice.
WIFE OF 'EL CHAPO PLEADS GUILTY TO US FEDERAL CHARGES
Though the companies she associated with, including a sushi restaurant and a cabana resort, are not explicitly drug-related, they have been designated as providing "material support to the narcotics trafficking activities of the CJNG."
Gonzalez has not seen her father since she was 11 and living in San Francisco, she said, but prosecutors said a witness could testify that she met with her father in 2011, when he asked her to review his accounting ledgers so he "could confront a cartel member who was suspected of stealing from the cartel," court documents showed.
Gonzalez was arrested in February 2020 after she flew to the United States to attend her brother's arraignment.
Gonzalez will only be required to pay a $20,500 fine after prosecutors recommended a fine of up to $5 million, the report added.
"We are disappointed that Jessica remains incarcerated," said Steven McCool, Gonzalez's attorney. "But we recognize that Judge Howell carefully considered the relevant factors and imposed a fair sentence."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
CJNG is one of Mexico's most powerful drug cartels. Along with the Sinaloa cartel, CJNG is one of the main factors behind the influx of illicit narcotics into the U.S.
"This sentence shows that violating the Treasury Department’s sanctions of businesses and persons tied to foreign drug cartels will not go unpunished," said acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
"The Kingpin Act is an important tool in the U.S. government’s unrelenting efforts to dismantle drug cartels, and we will not hesitate to prosecute those who support major narcotics traffickers by engaging in conduct that violates the act’s criminal prohibitions," he said.
Washington Examiner Videos
Tags: News, Mexico, Drug Cartels, Drugs, War on Drugs, Crime, Law
Original Author: Haley Victory Smith
Original Location: Daughter of drug lord 'El Mencho' sentenced to two-and-a-half years in US prison
