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News > Latin America

'Sean Penn is a Liar' Says El Chapo's Lawyer

  • Juan Pablo Badillo, a lawyer representing drug lord Joaquin

    Juan Pablo Badillo, a lawyer representing drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, attends an interview with Reuters in Mexico City, Jan. 13, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 13 January 2016
Opinion

The lawyer for the kingpin said that based on his long time working with El Chapo, he was sure he would not make such a self-damning statement.

A-list actor and two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn fabricated quotes supposedly by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in which the Mexican drug baron bragged about being the world’s biggest drug trafficker, a lawyer for the drug lord said on Wednesday.

Penn met El Chapo while the kingpin was a fugitive on the run in a secret jungle hideout. On Saturday, he was caught by Mexican marines, after half a year on the run since he escaped a top security prison.

EXCLUSIVE: El Chapo Could Be Killed in Prison or Escape

In Penn’s article for Rolling Stone, he quoted El Chapo as saying, "I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats.”

Penn said that El Chapo was given the article before publication for approval.

But the Mexican billionaire’s lawyer says that neither the assumption that El Chapo had approved the article or the quote were true, and has demanded to see evidence.

"It’s a lie, absurd speculation from Mr Penn," Juan Pablo Badillo, one of a team of lawyers for the drug lord, told Reuters in an interview Wednesday.

"In a way, yes, it does complicate it (his defense). Mr Penn should be called to testify to respond about the stupidities he has said," Badillo added.

He said that based on his long time working with El Chapo, he was sure he would not make such a self-damning statement. "He (El Chapo) could not have made these claims ... Mr Guzman is a very serious man, very intelligent," Badillo said.

"Where's the proof? Where's the audio?"

Penn states in the article that he was prevented from recording the personal conversation with El Chapo. A 17-minute video containing answers to follow-up questions does not hold the reported comments.

Penn’s publicist and Rolling Stone did not reply to a request from Reuters to comment.

The Mexican government will not investigate Penn and Mexican star Kate de Castillo directly over their secretive meeting with the world’s most wanted drug lord, El Chapo, but Mexico will investigate the circumstances around the meeting, a government spokesperson said Tuesday.

ANALYSIS: Expert: Peña Nieto Was Never Interested in Arresting El Chapo

The announcement comes after the Mexican Attorney General’s Office said Monday that the clandestine meeting the actors held with El Chapo helped authorities track down the kingpin after a months-long manhunt.

El Chapo first escaped from prison in 2001 when he was rolled through the doors hidden in a laundry cart.

El Chapo is now jailed in confinement in the same Altiplano prison he escaped from last year. The drug lord’s legal team told Reuters Tuesday that El Chapo has been in isolation since he arrived at the maximum security jail on Saturday.

To prevent a much-anticipated escape attempt, authorities have reinforced the floor of El Chapo’s cell and stationed two additional elite guards on watch with personal cameras at all times to eliminate blind spots in his cell.

El Chapo, who tried to trademark his name before escaping from prison last year, wants to make a film about his life, an underlying reason for his meeting with Penn and Castillo.

WATCH: Chapo's Capture Overshadows Mexico's Looming Economic Crisis

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