Drug Trafficker: ‘El Chapo’ Paid $100M Bribe To Ex-Mexican Prez Peña Nieto

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - JANUARY 8: President of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto attends a press conference about the recapture of drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera at National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico on January 08, 2016.... MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - JANUARY 8: President of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto attends a press conference about the recapture of drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera at National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico on January 08, 2016. (Photo by Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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NEW YORK (AP) — A Colombian drug trafficker testified that Mexican cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman boasted about paying a $100 million bribe to the former president of Mexico.

Alex Cifuentes spoke about the alleged bribe to President Enrique Pena Nieto during his testimony Tuesday in Guzman’s trial in New York.

Cifuentes first spoke with prosecutors about the bribery allegation when he began cooperating with U.S. authorities in 2016.

A spokesman for Nieto called the bribery claim “false and defamatory” when it first came up earlier in the trial. Nieto left office last year.

Under questioning from Guzman’s lawyer, Cifuentes said he wasn’t sure exactly what year the bribe was delivered.

Ciefuentes has testified that he lived with Guzman for a period of time at one of the kingpin’s hideaways in Mexico.

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