WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The daughter of the boss of one of Mexico’s most powerful drug gangs has pleaded guilty to carrying out financial dealings with Mexican firms identified as narcotics traffickers, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday.
Court documents showed Jessica Johanna Oseguera Gonzalez made property transactions for six businesses providing material support to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) run by her father Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, the department said in a press release.
In so doing, the 34-year-old dual U.S.-Mexican citizen violated criminal penalties of the foreign narcotics kingpin designation act, known as the Kingpin Act, the department said.
Her guilty plea came about thanks to the United States’ commitment to disrupt and dismantle all aspects of the CJNG, the press release cited special agent in charge Bill Bodner of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles field division as saying.
U.S. officials have described Oseguera, who was arrested in February 2020, as the gang’s main money launderer.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11 and faces a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison.
Oseguera is also a niece of Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, boss of Los Cuinis, an outfit allied to the CJNG. He was arrested in 2015 and has been fighting extradition to the United States.
Her father, a former policeman, remains at large. “El Mencho” is one of the most wanted men in Mexico and has a $10-million U.S. bounty on his head.
Writing by Anthony Esposito in Mexico City; editing by Grant McCool