Nayib Bukele trolls former Sen. Menendez over his Bitcoin hate after prison sentence

Nayib Bukele, the enduring Bitcoin-loving president of El Salvador, has simply fired pictures from former US Senator Bob Menendez, who was sentenced on January 29 to 11 years in jail after researchers had discovered Goudbars and half 1,000,000 in money in his home.

Nayib couldn’t resist pointing to the absurd irony. “This man mentioned we used Bitcoin for cash laundering and corruption,” he mentioned in a submit with a smiling emoji. Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and X proprietor Elon Musk each have re -placed the perform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2WZMGQVIHY

For years, Menendez Nayib pierced the Bitcoin regulation of El Salvador and accused the nation of monetary recklessness. Now he’s the so-called anti-corruption crusader who’s uncovered as a gold-lying fraud. FBI raids In 2022, money crammed in jackets and 13 gold bars of bribery offers. Jokes typically write themselves, proper?

Menendez vs. Nayib: the anti-bitcoin warfare

From 2019 to 2024, because the highly effective chairman of the Senate Committee International Relations, Menendez El Salvador made a private challenge. His downside? Bitcoin. In 2021, the federal government of Nayib accredited a regulation that Bitcoin wounded out of a authorized dispute, the primary nation on the earth to do that.

Menendez was not proud of that in any respect. The US rapidly took revenge on the accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) ACT, co -sponsored by Menendez and Senator Jim Risch in 2022, who ordered federal companies to analyze Bitcoin’s “potential risks for the worldwide monetary system”.

This man mentioned we used Bitcoin for cash laundering and corruption Additionally https://t.co/fjpt3gptna

– Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) January 30, 2025

Menendez pushed onerous for sanctions on the Chivo pockets operators of El Salvador and even wished to chop the nation of American commerce agreements. However Nayib didn’t return. As a substitute, El Salvador got here much more in Bitcoin.

Originally of 2023, the federal government rolled out of Bitcoin-stundled volcano bonds and expanded its world crypto affect with Bitcoin ambassades. In June 2024 they’d opened 20 such embassies in cities equivalent to Buenos Aires and Shanghai.

The administration of Nayib had met IMF necessities with out leaving Bitcoin. Menendez, confronted with failure on a number of fronts, centered his consideration on home battles – Vechtjes would lose spectacularly.

Corruption and bribes: How did Mendez go down

In a large fall from the grace, Menendez grew to become the middle of probably the most outrageous corruption circumstances in American historical past. Within the court docket, public prosecutors revealed coded messages that present how Mendez apps equivalent to sign used to coordinate bribes. For the proof materials, Senator Menendez even threatened to retrieve the American ambassador to El Salvador, until she withdrew a Nayib-related corruption probes in 2021.

Decide Sidney Stein seemed offended and a bit disgusting when the punishment is revealed. Menendez obtained 11 years behind the Bars Plus a effective of $ 1.75 million. Public Prosecution Service Paul Monteleoni closed Menendez for the abuse of his energy and referred to as the matter probably the most gross examples of political corruption in latest historical past.

The Fallout prolonged to the enterprise companions of Menendez, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, who have been additionally sentenced to imprisonment of seven and eight years respectively.

In line with judicial recordsdata of the general public prosecutors, the spouse of the Seantor, Nadine Menendez, can also be confronted together with her personal accusations of corruption. She is accused of taking part in a central function in cash laundering by way of Shell firms and coordinating the reception of luxurious items.

Her course of was postponed till March 2025 after her authorized staff revealed that she was present process remedy for breast most cancers. Nadine didn’t argue responsible in August 2024.

Menendez spoke to the court docket in tears earlier than the condemnation and mentioned, “Totally different than household, I misplaced all the things that I gave.” He begged the decide to contemplate his a long time of public companies, however clearly that plea fell flat.

Nayib’s Revenge Tour

Nayib ensured that he benefited from the humiliating fall of Menendez. Tv stations in state possession in El Salvador have broadcast FBI documentary materials throughout Primetime Information broadcasts, with the cash stuffed with cash and gold beams confiscated from the home of Menendez.

Nayib even forbade Menendez from getting into El Salvador and issued a “lifelong” limitation in a call designed to mock the failed marketing campaign of the senator towards Bitcoin.

The president additionally took the chance to regulate the Bitcoin technique of El Salvador. The federal government has amended its Bitcoin laws to voluntarily settle for acceptance as a substitute of creating firms.

They’ve moved Bitcoin to chilly storage for $ 400 million and launched a brand new crypto portion referred to as Freedom Pockets, which enforces stricter Know Your Buyer (KYC) directions.