Chicago twin Pedro Flores testifies feds promised wife would get a pass in exchange for his cooperation against ‘El Chapo’
Pedro Flores, a Chicago drug trafficker who along with his twin brother helped federal authorities build a case against Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, testified Monday that he was promised his wife and other family members would not be prosecuted for any drug-related activities.
Flores’ unusual testimony came in the money laundering case against his wife, Vivianna Lopez, and his sister-in-law, Valerie Gaytan, who are accused of hiding millions of dollars of their husbands’ drug proceeds from investigators and spending it on lavish trips, private school tuition and other living expenses.
Testifying via a video link, Flores said the lead prosecutor handling his case, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Shakeshaft, promised him his family would get a pass at their first in-person meeting in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2008.
When U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly asked Flores if the promise by Shakeshaft was ever repeated, Flores answered, “Yes, multiple times throughout my cooperation.”
Flores acknowledged, however, that the promise of immunity was never put in writing and that there was no mention of it in the plea agreement he and his brother, Margarito Flores Jr., signed in secret in 2012.
“Your honor, at that time I believed all those things already — in my understanding all those things had been taken care of,” Flores, who remains in hiding after serving a 14-year sentence for drug trafficking, said in a soft voice. “I thought my family was good.”
Shakeshaft had been expected to testify about those negotiations, but he died last week at age 55 after years of health issues.
Flores’ testimony comes nearly four years after he last appeared in court, testifying in the landmark criminal case against El Chapo himself in federal court in New York.
Later Monday, Gaytan herself testified on her own behalf — a rare occurrence for a criminal defendant in a pretrial hearing. Gaytan said she was the one who flew to Chicago in April 2008 to tell the family’s criminal defense lawyer that the Flores twins were considering cooperating against the cartel. She said the brothers were adamant that any deal include immunity for the rest of the family.
Gaytan said that during interviews at the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago in 2011, when she was purportedly helping investigators recover the assets of the twins’ trafficking operation, she asked Shakeshaft about a proffer letter she’d received saying immunity was only a “distinct possibility.”
“That was alarming to me,” Gaytan said. “I felt like I was being misled. ... (Shakeshaft) said that letter is just a formality that not to worry and that I would not be charged.”
On cross-examination, Gaytan admitted that she never told federal investigators that she’d collected and hidden millions of dollars in drug proceeds from the twins’ network of couriers during return trips to Chicago beginning in 2004. Gaytan said she was under the impression that the government knew about the money because it was reflected in drug ledgers found on the family’s computers.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Erskine also asked Gaytan why she gave millions in drug money to the twins’ older brother, Armando, who buried it under his porch in Texas for safe keeping, instead of just putting it in the bank.
Gaytan said it was for safety reasons given the twins’ cooperation against the notoriously violent cartels.
“We are not in witness protection,” she said. “Me and my family are scared. we are in harm’s way every day.”
Gaytan’s testimony is expected to continue Tuesday.
By agreeing to answer questions under oath, both Flores and Gaytan have potentially exposed themselves to a variety of legal pitfalls.
As part of their plea deal, the brothers agreed to forfeit about $4 million that their wives and older brother had collected from an associate in Washington, D.C. But that deal called for only $300,000 to be provided to their wives for living expenses of while they were in prison.
Flores admitted Monday that his wife and other family members had secretly accessed far more drug proceeds than they told the government about.
On cross examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Erika Csicsila asked Flores if he understood that “the government can’t immunize someone for something they don’t know about.”
“I’m not sure ma’am. I’m not an attorney,” Flores responded.
Gaytan, 47, and Lopez, 42, were indicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago last year on money laundering charges alleging they’d hidden millions of their husbands’ drug proceeds from the government over a 12-year period.
The indictment alleged the cash, much of it still in small denominations, was hauled across the border in rental trucks, secretly recouped from the twins’ associates in the U.S., hidden in trap compartments in vehicles and stash houses, and buried under their older brother’s home near Austin, Texas.
According to the indictment, Gaytan and Lopez and a network of relatives later conspired to launder the money through currency exchanges, credit cards, money orders, gift cards and the U.S. mail.
They allegedly used the money to fund at least a sliver of the lifestyle they’d grown accustomed to when their husbands were on the top of the cartel heap, spending more than $165,000 on private school tuition for their children, $100,000 in international and domestic travel, $80,000 for Lopez’s rent and $11,000 in child support.
Lopez also allegedly sent $5,000 of the laundered money to her husband in prison and spent another $31,000 on a laundry business she opened in Arizona after the family went into hiding, according to the indictment.
So far, two members of the alleged conspiracy have pleaded guilty: Armando Flores, 53, of Round Rock, Texas, who helped them break into the drug business three decades ago; and Bianca Finnigan, 33, of Sycamore, Illinois, who is Lopez’s sister.
Lopez’s aunt, Laura Lopez, 59, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
The wives’ claim of immunity has been hotly contested by prosecutors, and the bid to dismiss the charges is widely regarded as a legal long shot. Still, Kennelly it holding the evidentiary hearing to try to get to the bottom of what — if any — promises were made.
Also testifying Monday was former Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Fels, who questioned Pedro Flores during Guzman’s trial in 2018.
In his direct testimony on Dec. 18, 2018, Flores acknowledged that he’d told investigators about the role his immediate family played in collecting drug debts, but when asked whether his wife was ever charged, he answered, “No, she was given immunity,” according to court records.
Later, on cross-examination, Pedro Flores was asked by Guzman’s attorney whether Vivianna received prosecutorial immunity despite her alleged involvement in hiding drug proceeds.
“Your wife never got charged with it, did she?” the defense attorney asked. Flores answered, “No. She received immunity.”
Fels said Monday that he didn’t think Flores’ testimony “raised any sort of issues” because Flores was just giving his interpretation of his wife’s legal situation, even if it was not the whole picture.
Kennelly, however, pressed Fels later, noting the difference between not charging someone and immunity, saying Flores’ understanding of this appeared to “not be proper.”
“That is correct, but you are dealing with a layperson,” Fels said. “It just did not raise any red flags at the time.”
