Chapo team: Fess on fees

EL CHAPO’S getting some new lawyers in his massive drug trafficking case — but before they sign on with him, they want to defend their fees.

Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman’s public defenders told Brooklyn Federal Judge Brian Cogan on Monday that Guzman has retained lawyers. The catch is prosecutors haven’t promised they won’t try making the Mexican kingpin’s hired guns forfeit their legal fees, according to Guzman’s current Federal Defenders of New York lawyers.

When Guzman was extradited in January, authorities said they’d press for Guzman to forfeit $14 billion in drug money.

The new lawyers are “reluctant” to formally become involved in the case without assurances, said attorneys Michelle Gelernt, Michael Schneider and Edward Zas. The trio asked Cogan to give prosecutors a deadline. Guzman, 60, is slated for an April 2018 trial.