Federal prosecutors have accused Senator Bob Menendez of abusing his powerful position to accumulate large amounts of cash and gold bars by serving the interests of New Jersey businessmen and foreign governments. Prosecutor Paul Monteleoni told jurors that the Garden State Democrat “put his power up for sale” during closing arguments at Menendez’s two-month-long trial in Manhattan federal court. The senator is alleged to have leveraged his role as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which oversees approval of millions of dollars in US military aid, to gain wealth.
Menendez is said to have used his influence to promote the interests of New Jersey real estate mogul Fred Daibes and businessman Wael Hana, who are also charged as part of the bribery conspiracy. In return for gifts such as gold bars worth $150,000 and cash totaling $486,461, including bills stuffed into the senator’s official government windbreaker and a Timberland boot, Menendez is accused of pressuring the Department of Agriculture to protect Hana’s “monopoly” on approving halal meat exports to Egypt.
Fingerprints on the cash-filled envelopes are said to link the stash to Daibes and Hana. In addition to these gifts, Menendez allegedly recommended US Attorney Philip Sellinger for his role as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor after trying to discuss a pending bank fraud case against Daibes with him.
Menendez is also accused of accepting gifts from close colleague Jose Uribe, an insurance broker who testified that he bought the senator’s wife a new Mercedes convertible in exchange for her husband’s help in killing a state criminal probe. This was reportedly done over glasses of Cognac and dinners at swanky Garden State eateries.
Menendez’s lawyers have argued that their client was not involved in the alleged bribery scheme, claiming that his wife Nadine “sidelined” him from it. However, prosecutors argue that trial evidence shows that Menendez was the one pulling the strings and that his wife served as his “go-between” connecting him with the men paying the bribes.
Menendez has refused to step down from office despite the case pending and is running as an independent after losing June’s Democratic Primary to Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) in a landslide. This marks Menendez’s second time facing federal corruption charges, with a previous case tried in New Jersey ending in a hung jury in 2017.
