Witness says ‘El Chapo’ paid $100mn bribe to ex-Mexican president

A former close personal aide to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman testified Tuesday that the drug kingpin once paid a $100 million bribe to former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

After three days on the stand in the Brooklyn federal courtroom, the revelation was only brought up in court by defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman.

Cifuentes, who says he was a close associate of Guzman for years, told a New York City courtroom that he had told authorities of the bribe in 2016.

Cifuentes had been testifying about two years spent living with Guzman in the mountains of Sinaloa as the fugitive kingpin eluded the army.

Under cross-examination by defense lawyer Lichtman, who referred to transcripts of de-briefings Cifuentes had with US authorities, Cifuentes alleged that a $100 million bribe was paid to Peña Nieto, who was President from 2012 to 2018.

A spokesman for Peña Nieto at the time denied the accusation in a statement posted on Twitter.

"The government of Enrique Peña Nieto persecuted, captured, and extradited the criminal Joaquin Guzman Loera," the statement said. "The accusations made by his lawyer are completely false and defamatory."

Cifuentes told authorities the money was given to Peña Nieto in October 2012, when he was president-elect.

Cifuentes said in three separate meetings with US authorities, in 2016 and 2017, that $100 million was paid to Peña Nieto. In a September 2018 meeting, his story changed. He told prosecutors he had been confused about the exact amount of payment.

On Tuesday, he testified that he was "confused" about the exact amount of the bribe.

Cifuentes said he believed the photos of cash-filled suitcases were taken in Mexico City.

Cifuentes, who described himself as Guzman's "right-hand man, his left-hand man," had testified earlier Tuesday that Guzman had attempted a $10 million bribe to another high ranking Mexican official but was turned down because the official disliked Guzman.

Cifuentes was arrested in Mexico in 2013 and later extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges and entered a cooperation agreement with the US government.

Guzman, 61, has been on trial in Brooklyn since November after he was extradited from Mexico to face charges of trafficking cocaine, heroin and other drugs as leader of what the US has called the world's largest drug cartel.