‘El Chapo’ Paid Former Mexican President $100M Bribe, Court Witness Claims
Feb. 12 2019, Updated 4:13 p.m. ET
Former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto allegedly accepted a US $100 million bribe from Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, a witness testified at the ex head of the Sinaloa Cartel's New York trial Tuesday, January 15.
During cross-examination by defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, former Colombian drug lord Alex Cifuentes Villa claimed the bribe took place.
“Mr. Guzmán paid a bribe of $100 million to President Peña Nieto?” Lichtman asked. “Yes,” Cifuentes, who described himself as Guzmán’s one-time right-hand man, replied.
"You said in your first debriefing with the government that Mr. Guzman was asked to pay $250 million?” Lichtman asked.
“Yes,” Cifuentes answered.
Cifuentes said the two spent time together hiding at remote ranches in the Sierra Madre mountains between 2007 and 2013 while Guzmán was on the run.
Peña Nieto said such an accusation was “false and defamatory" when the suggestion of bribery came up earlier in the trial.
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