CHICAGO — Pedro Flores, a Chicago drug trafficker who along with his twin brother helped federal authorities build a case against Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, testified Monday that he was promised his wife and other family members would not be prosecuted for any drug-related activities.
Flores’ unusual testimony came in the money laundering case against his wife, Vivianna Lopez, and his sister-in-law, Valerie Gaytan, who are accused of hiding millions of dollars in their husbands’ drug proceeds from investigators and spending it on lavish trips, private school tuition and other living expenses.
Testifying via a video link, Flores said the lead prosecutor handling his case, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Shakeshaft, promised him his family would get a pass at their first in-person meeting in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2008.
When U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly asked Flores if the promise by Shakeshaft was ever repeated, Flores answered, “Yes, multiple times throughout my cooperation.”
Flores acknowledged, however, that the promise of immunity was never put in writing and that there was no mention of it in the plea agreement he and his brother, Margarito Flores Jr., signed in secret in 2012.
“Your honor, at that time I believed all those things already — in my understanding all those things had been taken care of,” Flores, who remains in hiding after serving a 14-year sentence for drug trafficking, said in a soft voice. “I thought my family was good.”
Shakeshaft had been expected to testify about those negotiations, but he died last week at age 55 after years of health issues.
Flores’ testimony comes nearly four years after he last appeared in court, testifying in the landmark criminal case against "El Chapo" himself in federal court in New York.
By agreeing to answer questions under oath, Flores has potentially exposed himself to legal pitfalls. As part of their plea deal, the brothers agreed to forfeit about $4 million that their wives and older brother had collected from an associate in Washington, D.C.
But that deal called for only $300,000 to be provided to their wives for living expenses while they were in prison. Flores admitted Monday that his wife and other family members had secretly accessed far more drug proceeds than they told the government about.
On cross examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Erika Csicsila asked Flores if he understood that “the government can’t immunize someone for something they don’t know about.”
“I’m not sure ma’am. I’m not an attorney,” Flores responded.
Gaytan, 47, and Lopez, 42, were indicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago last year on money laundering charges alleging they’d hidden millions of their husbands’ drug proceeds from the government over a 12-year period.
The indictment alleged the cash, much of it still in small denominations, was hauled across the border in rental trucks, secretly recouped from the twins’ associates in the U.S., hidden in trap compartments in vehicles and stash houses, and buried under their older brother’s home near Austin, Texas.
According to the indictment, Gaytan and Lopez and a network of relatives later conspired to launder the money through currency exchanges, credit cards, money orders, gift cards and the U.S. mail.
They allegedly used the money to fund at least a sliver of the lifestyle they’d grown accustomed to when their husbands were on the top of the cartel heap, spending more than $165,000 on private school tuition for their children, $100,000 in international and domestic travel, $80,000 for Lopez’s rent and $11,000 in child support.
Lopez also allegedly sent $5,000 of the laundered money to her husband in prison and spent another $31,000 on a laundry business she opened in Arizona after the family went into hiding, according to the indictment.
So far, two members of the alleged conspiracy have pleaded guilty: Armando Flores, 53, of Round Rock, Texas, the older brother of the twins, who helped them break into the drug business three decades ago; and Bianca Finnigan, 33, of Sycamore, Illinois, who is Lopez’s sister.
Lopez’s aunt, Laura Lopez, 59, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
The wives’ claim of immunity has been hotly contested by prosecutors, and the bid to dismiss the charges is widely regarded as a legal long shot. Still, Kennelly is holding the evidentiary hearing to try to get to the bottom of what — if any — promises were made.
Also testifying Monday was former Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Fels, who questioned Pedro Flores during Guzman’s trial in 2018. Other expected witnesses include the U.S. Drug Administration agents who met with the Flores brothers during their cooperation.
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