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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n
\n\t\u201cAt no time has he accepted any responsibility for his actions,\u201d prosecutors wrote in a court filing asking for the six-and-a-half years in prison. \u201cThe whole point of the sanctions regime \u2013 to economically isolate and cripple foreign bad actors \u2013 depends on U.S. persons taking sanctions designations seriously. Defendant did not.\u00a0 And he directed several others not to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDel Villar, 44, and his talent company, Del Entertainment, were found guilty on March 27 of conspiracy to do business with the Guadalajara-based concert promoter after he was listed as a \u201cspecially designated narcotics traffickers\u201d under the Kingpin Act on April 6, 2018. Officials said P\u00e9rez facilitated money laundering for both (CJNG) and the Los Cuinis drug trafficking organization.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn opening statements at trial, Del Villar\u2019s lawyers claimed their client was the victim of a \u201cscheme of manipulation\u201d orchestrated by a former employee who \u201cconvinced everyone\u201d he would make sure any transactions with P\u00e9rez were \u201cacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOrtiz, a Grammy-nominated narcocorrido singer known for his ballads about the drug trade, was signed to Del Records between 2009 and 2019. On the first day of Del Villar\u2019s trial, prosecutors revealed Ortiz already had pleaded guilty in the case. According to an affidavit, FBI agents tracked Ortiz down at a Phoenix airport and handed him a letter in April 2018 that informed him he needed to stop performing at P\u00e9rez\u2019s shows. Prosecutors claimed Ortiz initially planned to stop playing shows for P\u00e9rez but was persuaded by Del Villar to keep appearing. Prosecutors alleged it was Del Villar who convinced Ortiz to ignore the FBI warning because a portion of the profits from P\u00e9rez-backed shows flowed directly to Del Entertainment. They said Ortiz went on to play 19 more concerts for P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n\n\n
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\n\tIn her opening statement, Del Villar\u2019s lawyer Marissa Goldberg tried to redirect blame in the case to a former employee. She said the company vice president was the one who scrapped an April 2018 press release that was supposed to announce that Ortiz would not be performing at the annual music festival organized by P\u00e9rez in Aguascalientes, Mexico. She said the ex-employee booked the jet and traveled with Ortiz to his first P\u00e9rez-promoted show after he received the letter.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere is something deeply wrong and manipulative about how this case was created and investigated,\u201d Goldberg told the jury. \u201cThe ones who actually created this crime, who manufactured it, are not sitting as defendants, which is even more deeply wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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\n\tOrtiz parted ways with Del Records in 2019 amid a contract dispute. In a statement, a lawyer for Ortiz said his client\u2019s guilty plea was highly tailored, relating only to his transactions with P\u00e9rez in the context of concert performances.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cGerardo Ortiz has not pled guilty to conspiring with or doing business with Mexican drug cartels, nor is he cooperating against the cartels. Mr. Ortiz is a witness in this trial, and he has testified truthfully about performing at concerts in Mexico on behalf of promoters whom the US Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) has banned Americans from doing business with,\u201d the lawyer, Mark Werksman, said. \u201cGerardo and other artists performed at these concerts upon the assurance of his former manager that he could, when, in fact, performing in those concerts was a violation of federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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