Latin music executive Angel Del Villar was convicted by a federal jury Thursday (March 27) on felony charges of doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels, setting the stage for a potential decades-long prison sentence.
Jurors found the Del Records CEO guilty on 10 counts of violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, a federal law that bars U.S. residents from doing business with known drug traffickers, as well as one conspiracy charge, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles told Billboard on Thursday.
Prosecutors alleged that Del Villar repeatedly arranged concerts with Jesus Pérez Alvear, a Guadalajara-based promoter who allegedly had ties to Mexican cartels. At trial this week, regional Mexican superstar Gerardo Ortiz took the stand to testify against Del Villar, saying he had seen Pérez Alvear at the Del Records offices and had himself performed at one of the promoter’s concerts.
As reported by Rolling Stone, attorneys for Del Villar argued during opening statements last week that he had been “manipulated” into working with Pérez Alvear by a “trusted” former employee named Brian Gutierrez, who they say assured him that it was legal. They argued that Gutierrez was a paid informant for the FBI who had helped the feds “manufacture a gotcha situation” to “take down” Del Villar.
After eight days of trial, those defense arguments clearly did not sway the jury, which handed down guilty verdicts against both Del Villar and his Del Entertainment Inc. Following the verdict, Del Villar will face sentencing in August; under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, he could face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, though he could also receive far less than that.
Attorneys for Del Villar did not immediately return a request for comment.
Founded by Del Villar in 2008, Del Records later grew into a top record company for regional Mexican music. The label was home to música mexicana supergroup Eslabon Armado, whose global hit, “Ella Baila Sola” with Peso Pluma, became one of the biggest songs of 2023, as well as Lenin Ramirez and other chart-topping artists.
But in June 2022, Del Villar, 41, CFO Luca Scalisi, 56, and Del Records itself were all charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. Passed in 1999, the law allows the U.S. to impose targeted sanctions on foreign individuals involved in the illegal drug trade and ban U.S. residents from doing business with them.
The U.S. Treasury Department added Pérez Alvear to the sanctions list in 2018, claiming he and his company, Gallistica Diamante, had helped cartels “exploit the Mexican music industry to launder drug proceeds and glorify their criminal activities.” According to court records, he has since died.
Prosecutors said Del Villar and Scalisi used Pérez Alvear to arrange four Mexican concerts for an undisclosed Del Records artist, then accepted nearly $200,000 in payments from him, all while aware that he had been sanctioned. Charging documents cite a never-sent Del Records press release acknowledging that status, as well as private messages in which Scalisi noted that Pérez Alvear was “under homeland security watch” and Del Villar was directly told that Pérez Alvear was “a sanctioned US person.”
Following this month’s trial for Del Villar, Scalisi will face his own jury trial in July on similar charges.
