This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

First the tunnels, then the narcocorridos, then the Netflix series. Now, inevitably, the El Chapo fashion line.

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Despite all the security while he stood trial in Manhattan this year, despite the fact he was convicted for multiple drug trafficking offences, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was presented with and signed a contract for a designer label bearing his name and signature.

El Chapo sports and casual wear; El Chapo baseball caps and denim jackets. They are already in preparation. It remains to be seen whether the accessory lines will include a fake-diamond-encrusted revolver.

The agreement was signed in mid-February, just after Guzmán was convicted. Court filings show that although he was under orders from the bench to communicate with lawyers only about matters connected to the case, Guzmán was granted special permission to sign a civil contract granting his intellectual property to a company that was posted in the New York Law Journal on Friday.

It was strictly family business. The limited liability company, or LLC, to whom El Chapo granted the franchise to use his name is led by his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, omnipresent at the trial, never one to shy away from the connection.

The company is registered as El Chapo Guzmán: JGL LLC. It will launch its first garments this summer, said attorney Mariel Colón Miró, who was often at Coronel’s side during the trial, speaking to CNN.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Emma Coronel Aispuro leaves Brooklyn federal court in New York on 17 January. ‘It is a project dedicated to our daughters,’ she said of the fashion line. Photograph: Kevin Hagen/AP

“I’m very excited to start this project, which was based on ideas and concepts that my husband and I had years ago,” Coronel told CNN in a statement. “It is a project dedicated to our daughters.”

Coronel will be directly involved in the designs.

“She really enjoys fashion and designing,” said Colón, “She’s certainly going to be overseeing a lot of the designs.”

The lawyer added that she hoped the clothing would be made in Mexico, creating jobs and opportunities.

Michael Lambert, another lawyer for the family, stressed that although Guzmán agreed to licence the intellectual property rights of his name and signature, he cannot and will not earn any money from it for himself.

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“He wanted to be able to set something up – a legitimate enterprise – for the benefit of his wife and his two daughters,” Lambert said. “He loves his wife and he loves his daughters, and he wants to prepare for the future.”

As Guzmán awaits sentencing in June, the US government searches for his assets, with the forfeiture set at $14bn.

Lambert insisted that the company will not deal with anyone “alleged to be in [Guzmán’s] organisation”.

Duncan Levin, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan specialising in money laundering, said he thought “the registration of the company itself could be something that the state could seize” under “Son of Sam” laws, regulations named after the serial killer David Berkowitz that prevent criminals profiting from their crimes.

“All the proceeds could be taken away from the company by these laws, that were meant to prevent a defendant making money off their crimes,” said Duncan.