By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Joaquin El Chapo Guzman’s wife to four years imprisonment. She pleaded guilty for helping the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Emma Coronel Aispuro (32), pleaded guilty to conspiring and distributing illegal drugs, conspiracy to launder funds, and engaging in financial transactions with the Sinaloa drug cartel.

The federal prosecutors will also ask U.S. district Judge Rudolph Contreras Tuesday to direct Coronel that she forfeit $1.5million as part her sentence. At 12:05 EST (1600 GMT), she is due to appear before a federal court in Washington, D.C.

Prosecutors wrote that “the defendant committed a severe crime against the United States.” The Court should impose a sentence to deter others from attempting to undermine the rule of the law because of the detrimental impact drug trafficking can have on society.

Coronel was an American-born beauty queen, who was married to Guzman as a teenager. She was taken into custody at Dulles International Airport in Washington, Washington, on February 2.

Coronel agreed to plead guilty with prosecutors and admitted acting as a messenger between Guzman, Guzman, and the Sinaloa cartel members while being detained in Mexico’s Altiplano prison after his arrest in 2014.

Guzman used these communications for his plan to escape the prison in 2015, north Toluca (Mexico), via an underground tunnel that was built by the cartel. This tunnel led him to the shower inside his cell.

Jan 2016 saw the capture of drug lord and his extradition to the United States.

His February 2019 convictions included drug trafficking, conspiration, kidnapping and murder. He was later sentenced for life.