According to CoinDesk, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who has been a strong critic of cryptocurrencies in the past, was convicted by a jury on Tuesday of using his political influence to accept bribes such as gold bars and luxury cars.
Bob Menendez has been a vocal critic of cryptocurrencies. He once accused Bitcoin of being "ideal for criminals," but now he has been convicted as a criminal himself, sparking widespread discussion in the cryptocurrency community about the irony of the situation. .
In the past, Bob Menendez also co-sponsored a bill called the "El Salvador Cryptocurrency Accountability Act (ACES)", which requires the U.S. State Department to report on the risks that El Salvador's establishment of Bitcoin as legal tender may bring to the U.S. financial system. . Stacy Herbert, a member of the National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC) under the President of El Salvador, posted on the X platform that,
“While Bob Menendez was amassing his private wealth in secret, President Bukele of El Salvador was building the most transparent government in the world by making El Salvador’s public Bitcoin address available for global audit.”
While Senator Bob Menendez was hiding bars of ill-gotten gold he had received as bribes, President Bukele was establishing the most transparent government in the world by posting El Salvador’s public bitcoin address for all the world to audit. pic.twitter.com/XKyw1FzfIT
— Stacy Herbert (@stacyherbert) July 16, 2024
In addition, Stacy Herbert also added that the real perpetrator was Bob Menendez and that the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Bob Menendez, should apologize to President Bukele and El Salvador.
After the verdict, Menendez defended his innocence outside the court, claiming that he had always been a patriot who served his country and had never acted as an agent of any foreign country. However, prosecutors pointed out that Bob Menendez’s behavior went beyond the scope of conventional political behavior and belonged to profit-driven political activities. With Bob Menendez's conviction, prosecutors say, his years-long campaign of selling public offices to the highest bidder finally comes to an end.
Bob Menendez has been a member of the United States Congress since 1993 and a Senator since 2006. He has so far not offered to resign despite facing calls to resign from top party officials, including Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Bob Menendez's sentencing is expected to take place on October 29, and he could face decades in prison.
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