El Chapo's wife pleads guilty to federal drug trafficking charges

By Sonia Moghe, Maria Santana and Ray Sanchez, CNN

Updated 1743 GMT (0143 HKT) June 10, 2021

Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, is surrounded by security as she arrives at federal court on July 17, 2019, in New York City.

(CNN)The wife of Mexican drug boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman pleaded guilty Thursday to drug trafficking and money laundering charges related to her husband's narcotics empire.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, entered her plea in a federal court in Washington nearly two years after Guzman was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise as well as drug trafficking and firearms charges as leader of the murderous Sinaloa Cartel.

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A former beauty queen with an interest in fashion, Coronel wore a green prison uniform and white face covering Thursday as she told US District Judge Rudolph Contreras -- through an interpreter -- that she understood and accepted the conditions her plea agreement.

"Are you entering this plea because you are guilty and for no other reason?" Contreras asked Coronel, for each of the three counts.

"Si," Coronel, a dual US-Mexican citizen, answered in Spanish.