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Wife of Mexican drug lord โ€˜El Chapo' set to be released from California prison, officials say

Coronel Aispuro was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2021 after pleading guilty to helping her husband run his multibillion-dollar criminal empire.

In this Dec. 6, 2018 file photo, Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, arrives to federal court in New York.
AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File

Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of incarcerated Mexican kingpin Joaquรญn โ€œEl Chapoโ€ Guzman, is set to be released from prison in California, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

In a statement to NBC News, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed that the 34-year-old will be released from Long Beach Residential Reentry Management in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

"We can confirm Emma Coronel Aispuro has a projected release date of September 13, 2023," a Bureau of Prisons official said in a statement. "For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not elaborate on specific release plans."

Coronel Aispuro was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2021 after pleading guilty to helping her husband run his multibillion-dollar criminal empire.

In 2021, prosecutors accused Coronel Aispuro of assisting her husband in planning a dramatic escape through a tunnel underneath a prison in Mexico in 2015 by smuggling a GPS watch to him disguised as a food item.

They had asked for a four-year sentence, arguing she helped El Chapo run his giant drug empire, but U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras imposed a shorter term, saying her role was a small piece of a much larger organization.

During her sentencing hearing, Coronel Aispuro expressed โ€œtrue regret for any and all harmโ€ as she spoke through a Spanish translator in court. โ€œI am here before you, asking for forgiveness,โ€ she said. She asked for a sentence that would allow her to watch her 9-year-old twin daughters grow up.

She pleaded guilty to three federal offenses as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors. She also surrendered $1.5 million.

The charges include knowingly and willfully conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine for several years. She also pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy charge and to engaging in transactions with a foreign narcotics trafficker.

Coronel Aispuro was arrested in February 2021 at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

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