Ángel del Villar, the music executive who built the careers of some of the most successful names in regional Mexican music, including Gerardo Ortiz and Eslabón Armado, has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for conspiring to conduct financial transactions with a drug trafficker designated by the United States government. The conviction falls under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, known simply as the Kingpin Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens and companies from doing business with sanctioned drug lords or their associates.
Del Villar, who was once engaged to singer Chiquis and famous for his feuds with her mother Jenni Rivera, faced a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison but was sentenced to 48 months. He is scheduled to begin serving his sentence on December 1 at a federal correctional facility.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of 2 million dollars.
Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and raised in Southern California, Del Villar founded Del Records in 2008, turning it into a powerhouse label for regional Mexican music in the United States. His company propelled artists like Gerardo Ortiz, Luis Coronel, and Ulices Chaidez to stardom and, in recent years, worked with rising acts like Eslabón Armado, and was part of 'Ella Baila Sola', their collab with Peso Pluma.
Known for combining savvy marketing with a deep understanding of Mexican music traditions, Del Villar built an empire that often topped Billboard's Latin charts.
The Case Against Del Villar
According to prosecutors, the case stems from a series of concerts organized between 2018 and 2019 in which Del Villar's company allegedly collaborated with Jesús "Chucho" Pérez Alvear, a concert promoter from Guadalajara. In April 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Pérez Alvear for laundering money for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and its financial arm, Los Cuinis.
Despite the sanction, prosecutors said, Del Villar's company continued to work with Pérez Alvear on events, including the 2018 Feria de San Marcos in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
A turning point in the trial came when Gerardo Ortiz, a chart-topping singer and former Del Records artist, took the stand. Ortiz testified that Del Villar misled him into performing at concerts organized by Pérez Alvear, despite the promoter being on the U.S. government's blacklist.
Ortiz himself had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with the case. His legal team stressed that Ortiz never admitted to knowingly working with drug cartels, but rather that he unknowingly did business with a promoter later found to have cartel ties. Ortiz told jurors he had seen Pérez Alvear at Del Records' Los Angeles offices multiple times, where the promoter was allegedly recruiting bands for shows in Mexico.
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