On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced that the spouses of two convicted drug traffickers had each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Wives of Sinaloa drug cartel members Pedro Flores and Margarito Flores, Vivianna Lopez, 42, aka “Mia Flores,” and Valerie Gaytan, 47, aka “Olivia Flores,” revealed in a plea deal that they had obtained and spent funds on behalf of their husbands. Prosecutors claim the two mothers spent a total of $165,000 on private school tuition and over $100,000 on vacations.
Prosecutors claim that Margarito and Pedro Flores ran a Sinaloa-affiliated distribution cell out of Chicago, selling hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and kilogram quantities of heroin every month to buyers in cities like Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Vancouver, and Washington, DC.
The brothers started helping the government catch Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera in November 2008. After that, the brothers’ wives allegedly started hiding their husbands’ drug money. The prosecution claims that they continued to spend the drug money in the year 2020.
Wife of “El Chapo” Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking and Money Launderinghttps://t.co/ByeNMNe9fH
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) June 10, 2021
Both Gaytan and Lopez pled guilty last week; Gaytan on Friday and Lopez on Thursday. On Thursday, Laura Lopez, the third defendant, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. The highest possible sentence for each count is twenty years in jail.
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