{"id":7231,"date":"2025-08-04T18:43:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T18:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/feds-want-6-years-for-cartel-link\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T18:43:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T18:43:11","slug":"feds-want-6-years-for-cartel-link","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/feds-want-6-years-for-cartel-link\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds Want 6 Years For Cartel Link"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tF<\/span>ederal prosecutors want Latin music executive \u00c1ngel Del Villar<\/strong> to go to prison for more than six years following his conviction on felony charges of doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels.<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe feds asked a judge Friday to sentence the Del Records CEO to 78 months (6.5 years) in prison, three years supervised release, and a $300,000 fine for violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, a law that bars U.S. residents from working with drug traffickers.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the filing, the government told the judge a stiff sentence would \u201cconfirm that willful and brazen violations of sanctions law come with serious consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe knew the federal government imposed these sanctions [over alleged money laundering to] one of the world\u2019s most brutal criminal organizations,\u201d prosecutors wrote. \u201cAt no time has he accepted any responsibility for his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA court hearing for Del Villar\u2019s sentencing is currently scheduled for next week.<\/p>\n

\n\tProsecutors allege that Del Villar repeatedly arranged concerts with Jesus P\u00e9rez Alvear<\/strong>, a promoter with ties to Mexican cartels. At a March trial, regional Mexican superstar Gerardo Ortiz took the stand to testify against Del Villar, saying he had seen P\u00e9rez Alvear at the Del Records offices and had himself performed at one of the promoter\u2019s concerts.<\/p>\n

\n\tDel Villar\u2019s defense attorneys argued at the trial that he had been \u201cmanipulated\u201d into working with P\u00e9rez Alvear by a \u201ctrusted\u201d former employee. But the jury didn\u2019t buy it, finding him guilty on 10 counts of violating the Kingpin law, as well as one conspiracy charge.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the time, Del Villar\u2019s attorneys vowed to appeal the verdict, saying that the case was \u201cunique and unprecedented\u201d and that \u201cthe criminal justice system got it wrong.\u201d Such appeals typically take place after sentencing.<\/p>\n

\n\tFounded by Del Villar in 2008, Del Records later grew into a top record company for regional Mexican music. The label was home to m\u00fasica mexicana supergroup Eslabon Armado, whose global hit, \u201cElla Baila Sola\u201d with Peso Pluma, became one of the biggest songs of 2023, as well as Lenin Ramirez<\/strong> and other chart-topping artists.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in June 2022, Del Villar, 41; CFO Luca Scalisi<\/strong>, 56; and Del Records itself were all charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. Passed in 1999, the law allows the U.S. to impose targeted sanctions on foreign individuals involved in the illegal drug trade and ban U.S. residents from doing business with them.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe U.S. Treasury Department added P\u00e9rez Alvear to the sanctions list in 2018, claiming he and his company, Gallistica Diamante, had helped cartels \u201cexploit the Mexican music industry to launder drug proceeds and glorify their criminal activities.\u201d According to court records, he has since died.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe case alleged that Del Villar and Scalisi used P\u00e9rez Alvear to arrange four Mexican concerts for an undisclosed Del Records artist, then accepted nearly $200,000 in payments from him, all while aware that he had been sanctioned. Charging documents cite a never-sent Del Records press release acknowledging that status, as well as private messages in which Scalisi noted that P\u00e9rez Alvear was \u201cunder homeland security watch\u201d and Del Villar was directly told that P\u00e9rez Alvear was \u201ca sanctioned U.S. person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Friday\u2019s new filing on sentencing, prosecutors repeatedly cited such red flags to argue that Del Villar knew what he was doing was wrong, but simply \u201cignored\u201d the restrictions and chose to work with Perez Alvear anyway.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe whole point of the sanctions regime \u2014 to economically isolate and cripple foreign bad actors \u2014 depends on U.S. persons taking sanctions designations seriously,\u201d prosecutors write in the new filing. \u201cDefendant did not. And he directed several others not to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDel Villar\u2019s attorneys did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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