Del Records executives arrested for working with a promoter tied to Mexican cartel
the night listed in the court documents. The complaint also alleges that 10 days prior to the performance, the FBI alerted Ortiz about Perez’s ties to drug trafficking and his designation under the Kingpin Act. He flew into the Mexican state on a private jet paid for by Del Villar and performed that night anyway.‘s requests for comment.
The arrests of Del Villar and Scalisi come two years after the FBI conducted a raid at the offices of Del Records — the label behind acts such as Eslabón Armado, Los Del Limit, Lenin Ramirez, and Panchito Arredondo — in 2020 after the label sued Ortiz for wanting to be paid in cash for his performances in an alleged attempt to evade taxes.
At the time, Del Records had alerted the FBI that Ortiz had performed in Mexico for an alleged trafficker, per. The label said then that it had not been “a subject but merely a source of information for the FBI’s investigation into Mr. Ortiz.” The new criminal complaint also states that Ortiz performed at four different concerts organized by Perez in Baja California, Guanajuato, and Chiapas in 2018 and 2019.
Del Villar and Scalisi are set to be arraigned on July 20, after being released Tuesday on $100,000 and $35,000 bond, respectively. If convicted of violating the Kingpin Act, they would face a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison each. Perez’s whereabouts are unknown. He could face a maximum of 10 years in prison.