Former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez. SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – In a dramatic fall from Washington influence to federal lockup, former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey began serving an 11‑year sentence this week at the Federal Correctional Institution in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, after his December 2024 conviction on 16 counts—bribery, acting as a foreign agent, obstruction of justice, extortion, and wire fraud.
The 71‑year‑old former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, once known for his staunch conservative criticism of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, now occupies a starkly different spotlight: as an inmate at a federal minimum‑security camp.
Menendez’s political and legal odyssey began in July 2024, when a jury found him guilty of accepting bribes—including nearly $500,000 in cash, 13 gold bars, and a luxury vehicle—in exchange for steering U.S. military aid to Egypt and intervening on behalf of New Jersey businessmen.
His wife, Nadine Menendez, was also convicted and is slated for sentencing in September.
The sentence was no small margin. Prosecutors had urged a 15‑year term, branding his actions as “an extraordinary abuse of power.”
In January, Judge Sidney Stein ultimately imposed an 11‑year sentence, ordering the 71‑year‑old to surrender on June 17. Menendez’s bid to remain free during appeals—and his last‑minute push for a Trump pardon failed.
His jail arrival triggered a wave of commentary from Bukele, his long‑time foil. Menendez had been an early skeptic of El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin and publicly warned of democratic backsliding in Bukele’s government.
Bukele swiftly seized the moment. In a tweet, he quipped, “El ladrón juzga por su condición” (“the thief judges by condition”), suggesting hypocrisy in Menendez’s criticism.
Bukele even cheekily offered to take him in—”Yes, we’ll gladly take him in”—a taunt picked up by regional outlets.
In the U.S. Senate, Menendez had cast Bukele as an authoritarian risking democratic erosion.
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That confrontation still resonates now that Menendez is in federal custody, his legacy tarnished by scandal. With all appeals still pending, he remains steadfast in asserting that his prosecution was politically motivated.
