Del Records CEO has been found guilty. Credit to Ramon Martinez/Del Studios.
Los Angeles, California (August 15, 2025)- José Ángel Del Villar, the CEO of Del Records and Del Entertainment, was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. The 45-year-old executive was also fined $2 million by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong. His company, Del Entertainment, received a sentence of three years of probation and was fined $1.8 million.
Following a nine-day trial, a federal jury found Del Villar and his company guilty of one count of conspiracy and 10 counts of violating the Kingpin Act, a federal law that prohibits U.S. residents from doing business with individuals and entities linked to drug trafficking. The charges stemmed from transactions with Jesús Pérez Alvear, a Guadalajara-based concert promoter who was designated under the Kingpin Act in 2018 for allegedly facilitating money laundering for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and the Los Cuinis drug trafficking organization.
According to prosecutors, Del Villar and Del Entertainment continued to do business with Pérez Alvear even after being made aware that it was illegal. A key piece of evidence presented during the trial was the testimony of a well-known musician (identified in previous reports as Gerardo Ortiz), who stated that FBI agents had explicitly informed him of Pérez’s designation on April 19, 2018. The musician, whose private jet to the concert was paid for by Del Villar’s credit card, performed at a show promoted by Pérez just nine days later.
The case is part of “Operation Take Back America,” a nationwide Department of Justice initiative. It also comes amid a new development for Del Villar’s businesses: last week, the U.S. Treasury Department designated another recording artist affiliated with his companies, Ricardo Hernández Medrano, a.k.a. “El Makabelico,” as a specially designated narcotics trafficker.
Co-defendant Luca Scalisi, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, is scheduled for a sentencing hearing in October. The concert promoter, Jesús Pérez Alvear, was murdered in Mexico in December 2024.
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