Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman may be communicating with his wife through a member of the defense team, according to court documents filed early Tuesday.
Prosecutors claim the kingpin’s spouse, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was twice seen last week with a cellphone following attorneys’ visits with Guzman.
The motion, which is heavily redacted, does not name the attorney who reputedly allowed Coronel, a former beauty queen, to use a cellphone in the courthouse.
Transcripts from a Monday sidebar reveal defense team member Mariel Colon claiming that another defense lawyer, Michael Lambert, used Google Translate to communicate in Spanish with Coronel.
Yet the sidebar conversation, which happened prior to a prosecutor’s request for sanctions, does not include any allegations of communication between Guzman and Coronel.
Guzman and his wife are prohibited from communicating for security reasons, and she is not allowed to use electronics in court. Measures are so tight that Guzman wasn’t even allowed a hug from his beloved before opening statements.
“[Redacted] appears to have used a cellular telephone in concert with an attorney visit to the defendant following two trial days last week to facilitate unauthorized and, under the SAMS, impermissible contact between the defendant and Ms. Coronel,” reads Tuesday’s filing, referencing the security measures.
The court filing contains photographs of the accused infraction, but those too are redacted — as are the specific sanctions sought by prosecutors against the defense.
“I’m unaware of any of the allegations within the filing,” defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said, adding it wasn’t he who let Coronel use a cellphone. “But we are going to get to the bottom of it.”
“The motion is long on insinuation and short on proof that the defendant was communicating with his wife,” Lichtman added.
Defense attorney Eduardo Balarezo declined to comment on the motion, but said the alleged incidents did not involve trial counsel, meaning himself or William Purpura.
Guzman, the alleged head of the Sinaloa Cartel, is facing trial in Brooklyn federal court on drug-trafficking charges.