Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is widely regarded as one of the world's richest drug lords, but he's currently enjoying a privilege generally reserved for America's poorest criminal defendants.Since the Mexican kingpin was extradited to New York on January 19, he's been represented by two court-appointed public defenders. El Chapo is due back in federal court in Brooklyn on Friday, and federal officials are questioning whether he's really too poor to afford his own attorney.On January 27, U.S. Attorney Robert Capers and Arthur Wyatt, the chief of the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section in Department of Justice's Criminal Division, sent a letter to Judge Brian M. Cogan asking the court to look into El Chapo's financial situation."The court should make a strenuous inquiry into whether the defendant is financially unable to afford counsel," the letter said. "Such an inquiry is necessary to ensure that American taxpayers are not needlessly paying for the representation of Guzman, the billionaire leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, the world's largest and most prolific drug trafficking organization."The letter notes that Forbes magazine once included El Chapo on its list of the world's richest men, estimating his net worth at more than $1 billion. It also claims the cartel leader was responsible for shipping at least 250 tons of cocaine into the U.S. worth at least $14 billion — money the U.S. wants him to repay through asset forfeiture.Read the rest over at VICE News.