Photo Credit: Ángel Del Villar, Founder & CEO, Del Records
Del Records CEO Ángel Del Villar has been found guilty of doing business with a promoter linked to organized crime. He could face up to 30 years in federal prison.
Ángel Del Villar was found guilty on 11 counts, including conspiracy to transact with narcotics traffickers, in a federal Los Angeles court. The ruling followed a two-week trial, exposing connections to organized crime in a major blow to the Mexican music sector.
He and his entertainment company, Del Entertainment, were convicted of conspiring to engage in transactions with a “specially designated narcotics trafficker,” in violation of the US Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, better known as the Kingpin Act. The Kingpin Act prevents people in the United States from conducting business with sanctioned entities and individuals.
According to the Department of Justice in LA, the 44-year-old Del Villar faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison. He remains free on a $100,000 bond until his sentencing on August 15, despite the severity of his charges.
The case centers on transactions that took place in 2018 and 2019, when Del Entertainment did business with music promoter Jesús Pérez Alvear, known as “Chucho,” of Guadalajara. Pérez promoted concerts for the company in Mexico until March 2019.
Pérez and his company, Gallistica Diamante, also known as Ticket Premier, have been designated by the US Treasury Department as narcotics traffickers per the Kingpin Act since April 6, 2018. This was enacted after the department concluded he facilitated money laundering for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and the Los Cuinis drug trafficking organization.
It was determined that Del Villar and Del Entertainment conducted business with Pérez willingly, despite knowing it was illegal to do so. To this end, Del Villar’s credit card was used in April 2018 to pay for a private jet that brought a “well-known musician” from Van Nuys Airport to a performance in which Pérez also had a financial interest in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The two organizations continued to do business on multiple occasions between 2018 and 2019.
“The defendants here chose to get into business with an individual they knew had ties to the CJNG and had been designated a narcotics trafficker under the Kingpin Act,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph McNally. “Cartels and transnational criminal organizations cause immeasurable harm to our country. We are using every tool to eliminate these organizations and will prosecute those that do business with cartels.”
Del Villar’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for August 15, where he will face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison. Del Entertainment will face a sentence of five years of probation and a fine of $10 million for each of the 11 counts.
Pérez, who previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transact in property of specially designated narcotics traffickers, was murdered in Mexico in December 2024.
