Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara is leading a federal probe of Sean Penn over his ties to Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, law enforcement sources said Sunday.
His prosecutors are seeking a subpoena to search the cellphone of the two-time Oscar winner, who interviewed the then-fugitive kingpin for Rolling Stone magazine, sources said.
Authorities first uncovered the relationship between the activist actor and El Chapo in October, but the pair’s back-and-forth “could have gone back even further,” according to one source.
“We found out about the connection between Chapo and Penn through human intelligence, not through phone connections,” the source said. “Then we started investigating their connection.”
Another source said the investigation included Mexican authorities tracking the cellphones of El Chapo’s associates.
A source noted that El Chapo appeared to have been working with Mexican actress Kate del Castillo on a biopic about himself before meeting with Penn.
“Other people found out about his intentions. It started leaking out, and then Sean Penn came into the mix,” the source said. “One thing I can tell you: If Chapo had never met with Penn, he would still be at large.”
Another source said, “It’s shocking that a celebrity of [Penn’s] stature would be involved with an international drug dealer on the run — and what makes it even worse is that Penn is an American. Disgusting. But he’s very anti-government.”
Officials are also focusing on del Castillo, who brokered Penn’s interview with El Chapo, and anyone else involved in arranging the sit-down in a Mexican jungle hideout, another source said.
A Bharara spokesman declined to comment, and it was unclear what charges if any Penn or the others might face or why the investigation into him was being run out of New York City.
Neither Penn nor his reps returned calls seeking comment.
Guzman — who escaped from a maximum-security prison six months ago through an underground tunnel outfitted with rails — has been indicted on a slew of murder and drug charges out of Brooklyn federal court.
In his Rolling Stone piece, Penn revealed he was staying at the St. Regis hotel in Midtown when he met with a “colleague and friend” identified only as “El Alto Garcia” who later traveled with him and del Castillo to interview El Chapo.
Penn could also face trouble south of the border, with Mexican sources telling ABC and Agence France-Presse that he and del Castillo were under investigation by Mexican authorities who want to question them about the caper.
Media lawyer Floyd Abrams, an expert on the First Amendment, said Penn should not be in hot water in the United States if all he did was interview the kingpin.
“No, it doesn’t violate any law,” Abrams told AFP.
“The fact that he’s acting as a journalist, if anything, would be even more helpful in showing that he wasn’t engaged in some conspiracy.
“Had he given him money, had he given him advice of some sort — how to avoid detection — that might be something else.”
As part of Penn’s deal to interview El Chapo, Rolling Stone agreed that his report, posted online Saturday, “would be submitted for the subject’s approval before publication,” but El Chapo “did not ask for any changes,” the magazine said.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio called Penn’s fawning account of his meeting “grotesque” and blasted the actor as a has-been.
“I didn’t even know he was still around,” Rubio told ABC’s “This Week.” “I think he made movies a long time ago or something.”
In 2014, El Chapo was indicted in Brooklyn federal court in a dozen murders and the smuggling of 500-plus tons of cocaine into the United States. He also faces charges in Chicago and elsewhere.
Additional reporting by Marisa Schultz