El Chapo trial – live: Drug lord’s wife to appear in court to enter plea on charges of running criminal empire

The wife of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Emma Coronel Aispuro, is set to appear in court, accused of helping her husband run a sprawling drug empire.

The US-born beauty queen will appear in a Federal District Court in Washington on Thursday to enter her plea on international drug trafficking charges, according to court records.

She is also accused of helping plot her husband’s 2015 escape from a prison in Mexico, as well as helping plan another jailbreak once he was recaptured in 2016.

Reports have said that the 32-year-old is expected to plead guilty to the charges. If convicted on all charges she faces, she could be sentenced to as long as life in prison and fined up to $10m.

She has previously pleaded not guilty after being charged in a single-count criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the US.

Ms Coronel Aispuro had initially appeared to have no role in his criminal enterprise during her husband’s trial, but was arrested in February this year at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.