The information was revealed by the US Prosecutor’s Office at the beginning of the trial against Ángel del VillarExecutive Director of Del Records, accused of violating the Law on the designation of foreign drug trafficking, better known as Kingpin Law, which prohibits US people and companies doing business with known drug traffickers and their associates.
Ortiz was the first and main artist represented by the record label, considered one of the most important of the Mexican music with headquarters in the US.
The deputy federal prosecutor, Alexander Schwab, said at the beginning of the trial that the singer had declared himself guilty of a conspiracy position to perform transactions with a specially designated drug trafficker and that he would testify against Del Villar, according to the information cited by the magazine.
Background
Schwab explained that FBI agents contacted Ortiz in 2018 to inform him that the Mexican promoter Jesús “Chucho” Pérez Alvea had been formally designated as a drug trafficker under the Law of Designation of Foreign Drug Drug Trafficking and that he was now subject to US sanctions.
The Prosecutor’s Office affirms that Ortiz, nominated for Grammyhe considered not acting for Pérez, but from Villar convinced him to continue presenting himself, and the singer performed 19 more concerts for the promoter sanctioned for washing money for the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel (CJNG).
“Ortiz will tell you about your experience when meeting with the FBI, where they told him that he could no longer act in the concerts that Jesus promoted. He will tell them that it was Villar who ordered him to ignore the letter and continue acting in those concerts,” Schwab said in the trial that takes place in a federal court in Los Angeles. Del Villar was arrested in June 2022 together with Luca Scalisi, Financial Director of Del Entertainment.
The initial complaint alleges that, in April 2018, a musician sponsored by Del Records acted in a concert organized by Pérez. The Villar credit card was used to pay a private plane that took the musician from Van Nuys (California) to the presentation in Aguascalientes, according to judicial documents.
On four more occasions, in 2018 and 2019, the same musician presented himself in other concerts in Mexico, specifically in Baja California, Guanajuato and Chiapas, all promoted by Pérez.
The musician, who now knows that he is Ortiz, acted under the direction or with the knowledge of Del Villar, Scalisi and Pérez, says the accusation.