guilty

SACRAMENTO — A Sacramento lobbyist and former high-level staff member in the California Legislature on Thursday accepted a plea agreement tied to a criminal case that includes Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff and an advisor to a top Democratic candidate for governor.

Lobbyist Greg Campbell stood emotionless beside his attorney, Todd Pickles, inside a Sacramento federal courtroom and pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one charge of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley told the defendant that each charge carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and a supervised release period of up to three years. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors said they would seek lighter sentencing.

Campbell, who is not in custody, left the courthouse with his attorney, who gave a brief statement to reporters after the hearing.

“Mr. Campbell will remain focused on his family and making positive contributions to the community,” Pickles said. “Mr. Campbell is deeply grateful for the support from his family and friends during this difficult time.”

Campbell, a 52-year-old Davis resident, is one of three influential Democratic political strategists whose arrests last month rattled Sacramento’s political establishment.

Federal prosecutors accused political consultant Dana Williamson of allegedly conspiring with Campbell and Sean McCluskie, a former top aide to gubernatorial candidate and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, to siphon funds from Becerra’s dormant state campaign account between February 2022 and September 2024.

Williamson, a former chief of staff for Gov. Gavin Newsom, is facing additional charges for allegations that she lied on her tax returns and falsified documents related to her COVID loan. She pleaded not guilty to the charges and is out on a $500,000 bond.

McCluskie pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. A status of sentencing hearing for both McCluskie and Campbell is set for Feb. 26.

These cases are the product of an investigation by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation.

Judge orders Rahmanullah Lakanwal held without bond after fatal shooting in Washington, DC caused ‘sheer terror’.

The man accused of shooting two members of the National Guard in an attack in the United States capital of Washington, DC has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and assault.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, appeared remotely for his first court appearance on Tuesday via video from a hospital bed. Lakanwal was also shot in the incident, and his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

A judge in Washington said that the Wednesday shooting caused “sheer terror” in the country’s capital and ordered that Lakanwal, who formerly served with a CIA-trained unit in his native Afghanistan during the US occupation of that country, be held without bond.

Two members of the National Guard, deployed by the Trump administration to Washington, DC as part of an anti-crime effort, were targeted in the attack.

A 20-year-old specialist named Sarah Beckstrom was killed, and 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe was wounded in the shooting, which Republicans quickly used to call for greater restrictions on immigration to the US.

Prosecutors allege that Lakanwal travelled from Washington state on the other side of the country to Washington, DC to carry out the deadly attack.

US news outlets have reported that Lakanwal, evacuated from Afghanistan after the collapse of the US-backed government in 2021, had grown increasingly despondent about the direction of his life after the war, becoming isolated and prompting concern about his mental state from associates.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has pleaded guilty in a Chicago court to two counts of drug trafficking and organised crime for his role in Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Cartel, reversing his original not guilty stance following his arrest last year.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit and matching shoes, Guzman Lopez spoke sparingly in court on Monday. Early in the hearing, Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Sharon Coleman asked what he did for work.

“Drug trafficking,” Guzman Lopez replied.

“Oh, that’s your job,” Coleman said with a chuckle.

With the guilty plea, Guzman Lopez is expected to avoid life in prison as part of a deal in which he cooperates with US prosecutors and pays an $80m charge representing the proceeds of his crimes, according to reports.

Even so, he faces a minimum of 10 years in prison, according to Andrew Erskine, a lawyer representing the federal government.

Guzman Lopez will be sentenced by a judge at a later date, and will have no opportunity to appeal the sentence as part of the plea deal, according to reports.

“The government has been very fair with Joaquin thus far,” Guzman Lopez’s defence lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, said after the hearing.

“I do appreciate the fact that the Mexican government didn’t interfere,” Lichtman said.

According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, in the 35-page plea deal, Guzman Lopez acknowledged that he and his brothers advanced the cartel’s operations by bribing officials and deploying firearms and other weapons to carry out violence targeting law enforcement, rival traffickers, and even members of their own organisation.

The ‘Chapitos’

Guzman Lopez and his brother Ovidio, two of El Chapo’s four sons who are known in Mexico as the “Chapitos” or “little Chapos”, are on trial in the US and accused of overseeing a powerful faction of the Sinaloa cartel that they inherited from their father.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty in the US in July to two counts of drug distribution and two counts of participation in a continuing criminal enterprise. He faces a possible life sentence.

Two other brothers remain at large. Their father, El Chapo, was extradited to the US in 2017, and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.

In 2023, US federal authorities described the Sinaloa cartel’s operation as a sprawling network responsible for moving “staggering” amounts of fentanyl into the US.

Security at Chicago’s federal court was heightened as prosecutors on Monday outlined the events leading to Guzman Lopez ‘s dramatic arrest on US soil in July 2024, alongside another longtime Sinaloa leader, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

The pair were arrested in Texas after they landed in a small private plane. Their surprising capture prompted a surge in violence in Mexico’s northern state of Sinaloa as two factions of the Sinaloa cartel clashed amid reports of betrayal that led to the arrests in the US.

Guzman Lopez appears to admit kidnapping ‘El Mayo’

In his plea deal, Guzman Lopez also admits to kidnapping an unnamed individual purported to be Zambada.

Erskine, the lawyer representing the federal government, described the alleged kidnapping in court, saying Guzman Lopez had the glass from a floor-to-ceiling window removed.

During a meeting in the room with the unnamed person, Guzman Lopez allegedly had others enter through the open window, seize the individual, put a bag over his head, and take him to a plane. On board, he was zip-tied and given sedatives before the plane landed at a New Mexico airport near the border with Texas.

Erskine said the alleged kidnapping was part of an attempt by Guzman Lopez to show cooperation with the US government, which did not sanction his actions. He said Guzman Lopez would not receive cooperation credit because of the kidnapping.

Guzman Lopez’s information underscores some of the details that Zambada had already described in a letter he signed, and which was released by his lawyer shortly after his arrest last year.

Zambada’s lawyer had said that his client was “forcibly kidnapped” onto the flight to the US. In the two-page letter, Zambada said Guzman Lopez asked him to attend a meeting on July 25 with local politicians. Zambada asserted that El Chapo’s son had organised the meeting to “help resolve differences between the political leaders”.

“The notion that I surrendered or cooperated voluntarily is completely false,” the document states.

Dec. 1 (UPI) — Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo,” pleaded guilty on Monday in Chicago to U.S. drug trafficking charges, after his brother entered a plea deal in July.

And for the first time, he admitted during the hearing to leading the kidnapping of elusive Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in 2024. In an effort for leniency, he surrendered with Zambada in New Mexico after a private plane trip from Mexico.

Known in Mexico as the “Chapitos,” or “little Chapos,” Joaquin Guzman Lopez and brother Ovidio Guzman Lopez were among four sons charged in a 2023 indictment in Chicago that accuses them of controlling their father’s empire, including through violence. The two brothers were arrested in July 2024.

The other brothers are Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar and Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, who are fugitives. A reward of $10 million has been offered by the U.S. State Department for information leading to the arrest of each of Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar and Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2019 for his role as the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel for over 25 years. The brothers allegedly assumed their father’s former role as leaders of the cartel when he was arrested in 2016.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and continuing criminal enterprise during a hearing in the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois. He acknowledged his role in overseeing the tens of thousands of pounds of drugs transported to the United States, mostly through underground tunnels.

That includes methamphetamine, marijuana and fentanyl. These drugs have led to tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually.

During the hearing, U.S. District Judge Sharon Coleman asked him what he did for work.

“Drug trafficking,” he said in English.

“Oh, that’s your job,” Coleman said with a chuckle. “There you go.”

His defense attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, told reporters after the hearing: “The government has been very fair with Joaquin thus far. I do appreciate the fact that the Mexican government didn’t interfere.”

Lichtman said he likely will avoid life in prison in the deal, which includes cooperating with prosecutors. He faces at least 10 years in prison and no chance for an appeal, prosecutor Andrew Erskine said.

He also agreed to forfeit $80 million.

The judge didn’t set a sentencing date.

“She takes all the recommendations, she listens and she makes up her own decision because that’s why she’s the judge and why none of us are the judge because she’s not partisan,” Lichtman said.

Besides the trafficking of drugs, Guzman Lopez also admitted to kidnapping an unnamed person purported to be Zambada.

The prosecutors said men working for Guzman Lopez handcuffed “El Mayo” and placed a bag over his head.

He was given a sedative during a flight to New Mexico in hopes of a sentencing break. By then, the brothers were already indicted.

“El Mayo,” the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, pleaded guilty this summer in New York to drug charges. Zambada is set to be sentenced Jan. 12 in Brooklyn.

In his 35-page plea agreement, Guzman Lopez admitted he and his brothers bribed public officials and used guns and other dangerous weapons to commit violence, including murder, kidnapping and assault “against law enforcement, rival drug traffickers and members of their own trafficking organization.”

In July, Ovidio Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges tied to his leadership role in the cartel.

He faces up to life in prison and forfeiture of $80 million. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for later this year.

The four brothers led the Sinaloa Cartel’s violent Chapitos faction in Chicago and accounted for an estimated 80% of narcotics sold in the city.

The Sinaloa Cartel used jumbo jets, submarines and tunnels to smuggle the drugs into the United States. They then laundered billions of dollars in proceeds back to Mexico.

The cartels worked with street gangs, who helped them break down the product and deliver it to the streets.