A dual U.S.-Mexican citizen pleaded guilty Friday to willfully engaging in financial dealings with Mexican companies that had been identified by the United States government as specially designated narcotics traffickers, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Los Angeles Field Division.
Jessica Johanna Oseguera Gonzalez, 34, of Guadalajara, Mexico, pleaded guilty in federal court in the District of Columbia to willfully violating the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act’s prohibitions on engaging in transactions or dealings in property with entities or persons sanctioned under the act, and to being an officer, director or agent of entities who knowingly participated in such violations, said Bill Bodner, the DEA L.A. Field Division’s special agent in charge.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11 and faces up to 30 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Oseguera Gonzalez’s father, Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” the leader of the cartel, and her uncle, Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, leader of another drug trafficking organization, were also sanctioned by the government in April 2015, Bodner said.
Bodner said Oseguera Gonzalez’s guilty plea is a result of the agency’s “commitment to disrupt and dismantle all aspects” of the drug organization.
“Our efforts will continue to include a focus on those who facilitate these illicit drug networks,” he said. “Together with the Department of Justice, we will use all the investigative tools available … to bring to justice those who engage in illegal activity that is fueling the drug crisis nationwide.”
Court documents indicate that Oseguera Gonzalez was an owner of two Mexican designated companies — J&P Advertising S.A. de C.V., and JJGON S.P.R. de R.L. de C.V. — and that she was an officer, director or agent of four additional sanctioned businesses, Las Flores Cabanas, Mizu Sushi Lounge, Tequila Onze Black, and Operadora Los Famosos S.A. de C.V., doing business as Kenzo Sushi.
She remained an owner, officer, director, or agent of those entities following their designations, and did not seek the required license to engage in those financial transactions.
“The Kingpin Act is a critically important tool in the U.S. government’s unrelenting efforts to target foreign drug cartels that seek to flood American streets with illegal drugs,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the DOJ’s Criminal Division. “The Department of Justice will aggressively investigate and criminally prosecute those who willfully violate Treasury Department sanctions under the Kingpin Act, as a key component of our broader whole-of-government strategy to dismantle and disrupt foreign drug cartels.”