The wife of a Chicago drug trafficker who cooperated against Sinaloa boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman pleaded guilty Thursday, the second of two “cartel wives” accused of laundering millions of their twin husbands’ drug proceeds over a 12-year period.

Vivianna Lopez admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, who accepted the plea.

Lopez’s sister-in-law Valerie Gaytan pleaded guilty last week to the same charge. Both women will be sentenced in July.

The brief hearing took place amid apparent security concerns. It started 30 minutes before the posted start time. When a Tribune reporter walked into the courtroom, Lopez’s lawyer, MiAngel Cody, whispered to her client and the judge stopped the proceedings to ask if there was an issue with who was in the courtroom.

“I believe there is a member of the news media in the gallery,” Cody said, asking for a minute to confer with her client.

After a brief delay, the hearing continued, with the judge suggesting that the parties leave out references to any specific locations that might identify where she lives.

The hearing was halted again about 15 minutes later when more reporters came in. Cody asked the judge to inquire whether anyone was sketching the proceedings. After confirming no one was sketching, the judge allowed the hearing to continue.

Lopez kept her hands clasped in front of her and faced toward the bench for the entire hearing. Afterward she was led out by deputy U.S. marshals through a nonpublic door in the rear of the courtroom, pausing to look back once at her aunt, Laura Lopez.

Laura Lopez pleaded guilty to her role in the conspiracy shortly before Vivianna.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Lopez conspired to launder drug proceeds with Gaytan, Laura Lopez, sister Bianca Finnigan and Armando Flores, of Round Rock, Texas, who helped them break into the drug business three decades ago.

The conviction comes with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to Vivianna Lopez’s plea agreement, but prosecutors anticipate a sentencing guideline range of nine to a little more than 11 years in prison based on the circumstances of the case.

Gaytan, who is married to Margarito Flores, and Lopez, who is Pedro Flores’ wife, were indicted in U.S. District Court in Chicago in 2021 on money laundering charges. 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 spent much of the money on private school tuition for their children, international and domestic travel, rent and 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.

The wives originally contended that they had been assured by prosecutors that their husbands’ unprecedented cooperation against Guzman meant they would not face charges themselves for their own actions, but Kennelly ruled in November that the women did not have immunity from prosecution.

Kennelly ruled there was no convincing evidence there was ever an immunity agreement in writing for Lopez or Gaytan and certainly not for future conduct involving the alleged laundering of the funds at issue in the indictment.

Kennelly said that while the women argued that certain promises were made, there was no indication that there was any “meeting of the minds” about a formal agreement, and certainly nothing was obtained in writing.

The evidentiary hearings held by Kennelly in July provided an unusual behind-the-scenes look at the trafficking operations of the Flores twins, who rose from the streets of Little Village to run a massive drug-trafficking operation before they agreed to cooperate against El Chapo in 2008. The twins were eventually sentenced to 14 years in prison and have since been released.

In a highly unusual move, Pedro Flores testified via video link that he and his brother were promised early on by investigators that his wife and other family members would not be prosecuted for any drug-related activities.

“I thought my family was good,” Flores told the judge.

Prosecutors, though, repeatedly asserted at the hearings that there was never any immunity deal for the wives, which could only be finalized in a written document approved by the highest levels at the U.S. attorney’s office. And even if such protection was offered, it would not have excused the wives from future crimes, prosecutors have argued.

mabuckley@chicagotribune.com

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com