Ángel del Villar‘s criminal trial case could set a precedent in Latin music. The CEO of regional Mexican powerhouse label, Del Records, is accused of doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels.
Del Villar’s ongoing trial began on March 18 at a downtown Los Angeles federal courtroom and follows a 2022 criminal complaint that charged Del Villar, among other defendants, with conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. Passed in 1999, the Kingpin Act 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.
In their opening statements, Del Villar’s lawyers argued that the West Coast-based executive had been “manipulated” by a former Del Records employee who “convinced” him that what the company was doing was “legally acceptable,” according to reporting by Rolling Stone.
“There is something deeply wrong and manipulative about how this case was created and investigated,” Del Villar’s defense lawyer Marissa Goldberg said. “The ones who actually created this crime, who manufactured it, are not sitting as defendants, which is even more deeply wrong.”
A key moment during the trial so far was when corridos star Gerardo Ortiz took the stand on March 19 to testify against Del Villar. Ortiz had already pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge of doing business with the concert promoter, Jesus “Chucho” Pérez Alvear, linked to the case.
The U.S. Treasury Department added Perez to the sanctions list in 2018, claiming he and his company had helped cartels “exploit the Mexican music industry to launder drug proceeds and glorify their criminal activities.” Ortiz — previously signed to Del Records and managed by Del Villar — testified that he had performed at Feria de San Marcos in Aguascalientes, Mexico in April 2018, promoted by Pérez Alvear, even after he had already been designated under the Kingpin Act, which is why he had also been charged in the case.
Del Villar founded Del Records in 2008 and the label has since fueled the música mexicana movement. If convicted of violating the law, Del Villar would face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Below, a timeline of Del Villar’s legal saga:
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