This is the Multi-Million-Dollar Fine Gerardo Ortiz Will Pay for Alleged Ties to the CJNG

A judge in California, United States, ordered Gerardo Ortiz Medina to pay a multi-million-dollar fine after he pleaded guilty in 2025, as part of a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors, to having financial ties to a Mexican company linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 

Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California handed down the sentence during a hearing on Wednesday, April 1. On November 19, 2025, she had already issued an initial ruling against the artist, in which she determined not to sentence him to prison but to place him on three years of supervised release.

What is the firm linked to the cartel and how much is the fine the singer must pay? The case against Ortiz dates back to 2018 when he performed a series of concerts, including a performance at the San Marcos fair in Aguascalientes, in collaboration with Gallística Diamante, owned by Jesús Pérez Alvear, both designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as entities dedicated to laundering funds for the CJNG. 

According to reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the agency that led the case against the musician Ortiz and the firm that represented him in the United States, Records received approximately 1.5 million dollars, about 30 million pesos, for the performances in Mexico. 

Ortiz portrayed himself as the victim of a scheme in which his former representative had pressured him to perform the concerts in Mexico with the firm linked to the CJNG, one of the most powerful and brutal criminal organizations in Mexico. The reason Mr. Ortiz got into trouble in the first place was because of his former representative, José Ángel del Villar,” said Ortiz’s lawyer during his first hearing of judgment in November 2025. 

Finally, on the 10th In April 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed charges against the singer for having financial ties to a firm linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. On May 28, he pleaded guilty and, after posting $10,000 bail, avoided facing his trial and sentencing while free. 

However, his lawyer, Mark Worksman, asserted on the day of his initial sentencing that his client was in great danger for having become a collaborator with U.S. authorities. Mr. Ortiz put himself at great risk and in danger of personal harm by testifying against his former manager. 

This was an individual with interests aligned with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. When they betray the cartel, they do dramatic things to get revenge. Due to a mix-up in the reports filed by the prosecution and Ortiz’s defense, Judge Fringpong had initially sentenced him to pay $1.5 million in forfeiture. 

However, both parties objected, stating they had agreed to a fine of up to $250,000. Nevertheless, the judge decided not to consider either the defense’s or the prosecution’s request and upheld the fine 1.5 million—linked to the earnings he allegedly derived from business dealings with a firm tied to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 

Source: Milenio