Son of ‘El Chapo’ pleads responsible in U.S. drug prosecution

A son of imprisoned Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman on Monday (December 1, 2025) pleaded responsible in a U.S. drug trafficking case, months after his brother struck an analogous deal.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez had been scheduled to look in federal courtroom in Chicago for a standing listening to, however as an alternative entered a responsible plea, courtroom information confirmed.

Guzman Lopez is one in all 4 sons of El Chapo – often known as Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos – who inherited their father’s faction of the Sinaloa cartel. Guzman Lopez initially pleaded not responsible after his arrest final yr in Texas.

Jeffrey Lichtman, Guzman Lopez’s protection lawyer, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Guzman Lopez confronted a number of costs within the U.S. of funneling big portions of fentanyl and different medication to U.S. streets. Fentanyl overdoses have surged to grow to be the main explanation for demise for People between the ages of 18 and 45.

Guzman Lopez was detained in July 2024 after touchdown in a non-public airplane within the El Paso space. He was arrested together with Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, probably the most consequential traffickers in Mexico’s historical past, who co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo.

Present and former U.S. officers, who sought anonymity to talk candidly in regards to the occasions, instructed Reuters on the time that Guzman Lopez had lured Zambada to the U.S., a significant coup for U.S. authorities.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez, one other son of “El Chapo,” pleaded responsible in July to 2 counts of drug distribution and two counts of participation in a unbroken felony enterprise. He faces a doable life sentence.

El Chapo was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a most safety jail.