Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s iconic Bitcoin-loving president, just fired shots at former US Senator Bob Menendez, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Jan. 29 after investigators found gold bars and half a million in cash hidden in his house.
Nayib couldn’t resist pointing out the absurd irony. “This guy said we used Bitcoin for money laundering and corruption,” he said in a post with a laughing emoji. Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and X owner Elon Musk himself both reposted the post.
For years, Menendez hounded Nayib over El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law, accusing the country of financial recklessness. Now, it’s him—the so-called anti-corruption crusader—who’s exposed as a gold-hoarding fraud. FBI raids in 2022 revealed cash stuffed in jackets and 13 gold bars from bribery deals. Jokes sometimes write themselves, don’t they?
Menendez vs. Nayib: The anti-Bitcoin war
From 2019 to 2024, as the powerful chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez made El Salvador a personal project. His problem? Bitcoin. In 2021, Nayib’s government passed a law making Bitcoin legal tender, the first country in the world to do so.
Menendez wasn’t happy about that at all. The US quickly retaliated with the Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act, co-sponsored by Menendez and Senator Jim Risch in 2022, which ordered federal agencies to investigate Bitcoin’s “potential dangers to the global financial system.”
This guy said we used Bitcoin for money laundering and corruption 😂 https://t.co/FJpT3gptna
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) January 30, 2025
Menendez pushed hard for sanctions on El Salvador’s Chivo wallet operators and even wanted to cut the country off from US trade deals. But Nayib didn’t back down. Instead, El Salvador got even more into Bitcoin.
The government rolled out Bitcoin-backed Volcano Bonds in early 2023 and expanded its global crypto influence with Bitcoin Embassies. By June 2024, they had opened 20 such embassies in cities like Buenos Aires and Shanghai.
Nayib’s administration had met IMF demands without abandoning Bitcoin. Menendez, facing failure on multiple fronts, turned his attention to domestic battles—battles he would lose spectacularly.
Corruption and bribes: How Menendez went down
In a massive fall from grace, Menendez became the center of one of the most scandalous corruption cases in US history. In court, prosecutors revealed encrypted messages showing how Menendez used apps like Signal to coordinate bribes. Per the evidence material, Senator Menendez even threatened to recall the US ambassador to El Salvador unless she backed off Nayib-related corruption probes in 2021.
Judge Sidney Stein looked angry and a bit disgusted when delivering the sentence. Menendez got 11 years behind bars plus a $1.75 million fine. Prosecutor Paul Monteleoni slammed Menendez for abusing his power, calling the case one of the most egregious examples of political corruption in recent history.
The fallout extended to Menendez’s business partners, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, who were also sentenced to prison terms of 7 and 8 years, respectively.
According to court filings from the prosecutors, the Seantor’s wife, Nadine Menendez, is also facing her own corruption charges. She is being accused of playing a central role in laundering the bribe money through shell companies and coordinating the receipt of luxury gifts.
Her trial was postponed to March 2025 after her legal team revealed that she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Nadine pleaded not guilty in August 2024.
Menendez addressed the court in tears before the sentencing, saying, “Other than family, I have lost everything I cared about.” He begged the judge to consider his decades of public service, but clearly, that plea fell flat.
Nayib’s revenge tour
Nayib made sure to capitalize on Menendez’s humiliating downfall. State-owned television stations in El Salvador aired FBI evidence during primetime news broadcasts, showing the cash-filled jackets and gold bars seized from Menendez’s home.
Nayib even banned Menendez from entering El Salvador, issuing a “lifetime” restriction in a decision designed to mock the senator’s failed campaign against Bitcoin.
The president also used the opportunity to tweak El Salvador’s Bitcoin strategy. The government amended its Bitcoin Law to make acceptance voluntary rather than mandatory for businesses.
They moved $400 million worth of Bitcoin to cold storage and launched a new crypto wallet called Freedom Wallet, which enforces stricter Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.
