Of records Execla me to the positions of the Kingpin ‘incorrect’ narcotics law in the trial

The Mexican music founder Powerhouse Of the records He began his criminal trial in the center of Los Angeles with statements that he was “manipulated” by a former “reliable” employee and should not be the trial for illegally business with a concert promoter based in Guadalajara with alleged links with Mexican drug cartels.

Angel del Villar, CEO of Del Records, sat in the Federal Court Chamber to open statements on Tuesday when his defense lawyer, Marissa Goldberg, claimed that a vice president of the company named Brian Gutiérrez acted as a compliance officer of the label and “convinced” Del Villar that “everything” that the company was legally acceptable. Goldberg said that the evidence will show that Gutierrez was working as a confidential informant paid for the FBI at that time and helped the authorities “manufacture a gotcha situation to tear down someone who perceived that he was at the top.”

Del Villar, 44, observed in silence from the defense table as the prosecutors said in its opening that the former artist of Del Records, Gerardo OrtizHe had already declared himself guilty of a conspiracy charge in the case and would testify against Villar.

According to prosecutors, the FBI agents tracked Ortiz at a Phoenix airport and gave him a letter in April 2018 that informed him that he needed to stop acting in shows organized by the promoter based in Mexico Jesús “Chucho” Pérez Alvear. The letter said Pérez had been formally appointed a drug trafficker under Kingpin’s law of foreign narcotics and was now subject to US sanctions. The prosecutors said that Ortiz initially planned to stop playing shows for Pérez, but from Villar was persuaded to continue appearing. The prosecutors alleged that it was from Villar who convinced Ortiz to ignore the warning of the FBI because a part of the earnings of the shows backed by Pérez flowed directly to the Talents agency of Villar, of the Entertainment, coacked at the trial. They say Ortiz played 19 more concerts for Pérez.

“Gerardo Ortiz declared himself guilty of conspiracy to make transactions (with) a specially designated narcotics trafficker, one of the crimes that those accused in this trial are accused of,” said US prosecutor Alexander Schwab on Tuesday.

Schwab said Ortiz, a grammy -nominated nominated singer known for his ballads about drug trafficking, will take the position of witnesses in the case. “You are going to listen to Gerardo Ortiz. He will tell you that he is now cooperating with (researchers) in this case, and hopes that his cooperation will take into account at the time he is sentenced,” Schwab said. “Mr. Ortiz will tell him about his experience to meet the FBI, who is told that he could no longer act in the concerts that Chucho (promoted). He will tell him (which was) of Villar, who ordered him to ignore the letter and continue acting in these concerts.”

Schwab told the jury that Gutierrez, the vice president, contacted the FBI “to drop the whistle of the company.” He said Gutierrez provided FBI with incriminating voice messages and text messages that involve their superiors. “Finally, (Gutiérrez) also became what is called a confidential human source for the FBI,” Schwab said.

Goldberg said you couldn’t trust Gutierrez. She claimed that she had political aspirations, sought what she called “the center of attention” and was essentially on the FBI payroll.

“Brian Gutiérrez learned of the designation of Chucho Pérez (as a drug trafficker), and began his manipulation scheme,” Golberg said in his opening. “He convinced everyone to leave it to me. ‘I will contact lawyers and make sure that everything we do in the future is acceptable.'”

She claimed that it was Gutierrez who discarded a press release from April 2018 that she was supposed to announce that Ortiz would not act at the Annual Music Festival organized by Pérez in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The lawyer said that the press release was promoted by the FBI letter delivered to Ortiz and was supposed to say that the records “was no longer going to do business with Chucho Pérez or his company.”

“It was Brian who ended that press release,” Goldberg told the jurors. “Instead, he convinced everyone that alone, ‘leave it to me. I will contact the lawyers. I will make sure that everything we do in the future is acceptable.’ isolate and that from Villar “trusted” Gutierrez to handle the matter properly while Villar was busy directing the rest of his commercial entertainment empire, which included sports and restaurant companies at that time.

“There is something deeply incorrect and manipulative about how this case was created and investigated,” Goldberg told the jury on Tuesday. “Those who really created this crime, who manufactured it, are not sitting as accused, which is even more incorrect.”

Ortiz separated with the records in 2019 in the middle of a contract dispute. He and Villar remain locked in grief demands that have been consolidated in a single case in the Superior Court of the Los Angeles County. Meanwhile, Gutiérrez sued Del Villar and the Records for unfair, discrimination and harassment in April 2023. His demand alleges that Villar learned about Gutierrez’s cooperation with the government on August 1, 2022 and dismissed him “in retaliation for his pinch the next day.”

The attempts to get to Ortiz and Gutiérrez through their representatives were not immediately successful on Tuesday. If it is declared guilty of violating the Kingpin law, Villar would face a maximum legal sentence of 30 years in prison.