Lawyer Confirms El Chapo's Sons Are Negotiating a Plea Deal as Chapo Requests New Trial

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Ovidio Guzmán and Joaquín Guzmán López are negotiating for a plea deal with the US government, their attorney Jeffrey Lichtman confirmed during a federal court hearing in Chicago on Monday.

During Monday’s hearing for Ovidio Guzmán, the federal judge also allowed for him and his brother to be represented by the same attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, who represented "El Chapo" during his 2019 federal trial.

A number of traffickers turned cooperating witnesses testified against "El Chapo" during his trial, including members of "El Mayo" Zambada's family, his brother and one of his sons, Vicente, known as "El Traidor."

"El Chapo" submitted a letter to the Brooklyn federal court, where his trial was held, requesting a new trial, citing “ineffective” counsel and “illegal” extradition to New York.

“The evidence is clear”; “I went to the Supreme Court and they didn't listen to me,” El Chapo wrote.

Although the letter is dated September 25, it was only on October 15 that the process that was taken to the Court of Appeals was completed. However, according to specialists close to the case, the drug trafficker lost his chances of a new trial and his request, in any case, should have gone to the Supreme Court.

Guzmán's team previously sought a retrial in 2019 after a report that jurors were following media coverage of the proceedings, but judge Brian Cogan rejected the request saying a "mountain range of evidence" against the trafficker strongly countered his attorneys' claims that jurors engaged in misconduct.

El Chapo's defense attorney, Jeff Lichtman, said back then that the ruling further demonstrated the trial "was more of an inquisition, a show trial, than an exercise in true American justice." He, added there will always be "a stain of injustice on this case as the jury's rampant misconduct was summarily swept under the rug by the Court and the government." "El Chapo" was sentenced two weeks later.

In his most recent letter, Guzmán accuses his former defense team, led by Jeffrey Lichtman, of providing ineffective representation. He now seeks a new trial on these grounds, though legal experts suggest his chances of success are slim. 

Lichtman is now representing his sons, Ovidio and Joaquin Guzmán. Following the publication of El Mayo's letter in mid-August, attorney Jeffrey Lichtman adamantly and repeatedly denied the possibility of a plea deal. As recently as last Friday, he told the Telemundo television network that no such deal existed.

On Wednesday of last week, Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former security minister and the architect of the Mexican “war on drugs”, was sentenced to 38 years in prison for working with the Sinaloa cartel.

During his time in office, García Luna had control over Mexico’s federal police and established a close relationship with the US government, working with the CIA, FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Cooperating witnesses testified during García Luna’s 2023 trial that, during his time in office, Sinaloa cartel leaders paid him millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for protection for their drug trafficking operations.

Ovidio Guzmán and Joaquín Guzmán López’s next hearing is set for 7 January 2025, where it may be confirmed whether they will sign a plea deal to become cooperating witnesses for the US government. Their attorney did not say whether they may, or may not, cooperate in the government’s case against "El Mayo."

Sources The Guardian, La Opinion, El Pais