Music executive Ángel Del Villar was sentenced Friday to 48 months (4 years) years in prison following his conviction on felony charges of doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels.
Del Villar, who built his Del Records into a top record label for regional Mexican music, was sentenced by Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong following his conviction in March for violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, which bars U.S. residents from working with known drug traffickers.
The four-year sentence is less than what was sought by federal prosecutors, who argued that Del Villar should get 78 months (6.5 years) in prison. Lawyers for the exec argued back that the feds were trying to “single out Mr. Del Villar for extra punishment” and “make an example” of him.
In addition to the prison term, the judge ordered Del Villar to pay a $2 million fine. His company, Del Entertainment, was sentences to 3 years probation and a $1.8M fine. An attorney for the executive did not immediately return a request for comment.
Founded by Del Villar in 2008, Del Records 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.
Prosecutors alleged that Del Villar repeatedly arranged concerts with Jesus Pérez Alvear, a promoter with ties to Mexican cartels. When he was added to the sanctions list in 2018, the Treasury Dept. said Pérez Alvear had helped cartels “exploit the Mexican music industry to launder drug proceeds and glorify their criminal activities.”
Del Villar and Scalisi allegedly 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 the promoter was “a sanctioned U.S. person.”
At a March trial, 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. Del Villar’s defense attorneys argued back that he had been “manipulated” into working with Pérez Alvear by a “trusted” former employee.
But the jury didn’t buy it: On March 27, they found him guilty on 10 counts of violating the Kingpin law, as well as one conspiracy charge. At the time, his lawyers said they “strongly disagree” with the verdict and would launch an appeal to overturn it.
