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.
