The man who runs the business that owns the Learjet that crashed and killed Latin music star Jenni Rivera and six others denies he has ever had any connections to drug cartels or has ever been involved in drug trafficking, Fox News reports. The owner claims the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has unfairly watched him for more than two decades, and hasn't proved any narcotics connection.
The DEA recently announced it is currently investigating Starwood Management, the company that owns the luxury jet that crashed and killed Rivera and her crew. The agency seized two of its planes earlier this year as part of the ongoing probe, reported The Huffington Post.
Planes owned by Las Vegas-based Starwood management were seized in Texas and Arizona, DEA spokeswoman Lisa Webb Johnson confirmed, but declined to discuss details of the case.
"The DEA has subpoenaed all the company's records, including any correspondence it has had with a former Tijuana mayor who U.S. law enforcement officials have long suspected has ties to organized crime," the Post noted.
According to CNN, two lawsuits against Starwood Management accuse the company of lying about its links to a businessman convicted of falsifying maintenance records.
The man who runs the business, 50-year-old Christian Esquino "has a long and checkered legal past," but he told the Associated Press he's been dogged by the DEA since the 1980s after he sold a plane in Florida to a prominent drug trafficker who eventually used the craft as part of a huge smuggling operation.
Esquino says the federal government is convinced he has ties to Tijuana's notorious Arellano Felix cartel, which he outright denies.
"The DEA has been investigating me my whole life," Equino told the AP. "They can investigate me all they want and they can investigate Starwood all they want, but they're not going to find anything."
"I would have to be the smartest drug trafficker in the world to be able to stay away from a drug conviction with the DEA looking at me under a microscope for 20 years," he added.
Iconic Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera and six others were killed when the small private Learjet flying them from the northern Mexican city of Monterrey to the central city of Toluca early Sunday morning plummeted from 28,000 feet, said Mexico's transportation secretary said, crashing into a mountainous area 9,000 feet above sea level.
According to CNN, the cause of the crash is under investigation. The accident report will not be ready for nine months to a year, the secretary of communications and transportation said.
The plane crash left no survivors, and the singer's publicist, lawyer and makeup artists were among those killed, added Gustavo Rivera.
"Known to fans as 'La Diva de la Banda' or The Diva of Banda Music, Rivera was well-established as a musical powerhouse with her Spanish-language performances of regional Mexican corridos, or ballads. For fans, the nickname captured her powerful voice and the personal strength many admired," said USA Today.
After dominating Latin charts for years, many saw Rivera as poised to take on the English-language market. Rivera sold 15 million records, according to Billboard, and recently won two Billboard Music Awards, including favorite Mexican music female artist.
The Banda Music singer was nominated for various Latin Grammy Awards in 2002, 2008 and 2011. In October, People en Español named her to its list of the 25 most powerful women.
For his part, Esquino maintains his innocence.
"The DEA has destroyed my business, they have destroyed my reputation. That's how they win," Esquino said. "They can't get me on a drug conviction because they have nothing on me, but they destroy my life in the meantime."
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