The corrupt Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey was just indicted for selling influence and accepting hundreds of thousands in bribes. This comes years after Menendez was tried for accepting illegal gifts from a Dr. Salomon Melgen. Unfortunately he got away with that one.
But in the newly unsealed indictment it appears they’ve caught Menendez red-handed, finding more than $480,000 stuffed into envelopes and hidden into their clothing and over $100k worth of gold bars in his home.
Here’s more via Fox News:
Federal prosecutors charged Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and his wife with violating corruption and bribery laws, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court Friday.
According to the indictment, Menendez, who chairs the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his wife Nadine Menendez are accused of engaging in a corrupt scheme alongside Fred Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer, Wael Hana, who runs a halal meat certification business in the state, and businessman Jose Uribe.
The bombshell indictment included sprawling allegations against the senior Democratic senator involving a scheme to aid the Egyptian government, gold bars, money stuffed in envelopes and illicit halal certifications.
Below are the main charges listed in the indictment for the corrupt Senator Menendez and his wife. In short, it doesn’t look good for them even though Menendez denies doing anything wrong:
1. Breached official duty in way that ‘benefited the Government of Egypt’
The federal indictment alleges that Menendez used his power and influence serving in the U.S. Senate to enter into the scheme which ultimately benefited the Egyptian government. It stated that the lawmaker and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes “to seek to protect and enrich” Daibes, Hana and Uribe.
The bribes, the indictment continued, included cash, gold bars, home mortgage payments, compensation for no-show jobs, a luxury vehicle and “other things of value.”
“Among other actions, Menendez provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt,” the indictment stated.
“Menendez also improperly advised and pressured an official at the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of protecting a business monopoly granted to Hana by Egypt and used in part to fund the bribes being paid to Menendez through Nadine Menendez,” it continued.
The scheme arose in 2018 after Nadine Menendez, then Arslanian, began dating Sen. Menendez and subsequently introduced him to Egyptian intelligence and military officials “for the purpose of establishing and solidifying a corrupt agreement” in which Hana, along with Daibes and Uribe, provided bribes to the Menendez couple.
In exchange, Menendez allegedly breached his official duty to benefit Egypt’s government with respect to foreign military sales and foreign military financing.
In his role as the top Democratic member on the Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez was given substantial access to and possessed substantial influence over foreign military sales and foreign military financing to Egypt, among the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid.
2. Investigators find cash stuffed in envelopes and Menendez’s jackets
The indictment further revealed that federal agents conducted a search of Menendez’s home last year, when they discovered hidden cash and gold bars.
In June 2022, agents raided Menendez’s residence and a safe deposit box belonging to Nadine Menendez. They found more than $480,000 in cash which was largely stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe. They also discovered more than $70,000 in the senator’s wife’s safe deposit box.
Some of the envelopes containing cash contained DNA belonging to Daibes or his driver.
Cash was also located in jackets with Menendez’s name stitched on them. One jacket had Mendnez’s name stitched next to the insignia for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which he is a member.
“During the same court-authorized search of the home, agents also found home furnishings provided by Hana and Daibes, the luxury vehicle paid for by Uribe parked in the garage, as well as over one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of gold bars in the home, which were provided by either Hana or Daibes.”
The other charges include how Menendez took bribes to try and influence a pending federal prosecution of Daibes by recommending a US Attorney he thought would be sympathetic to Daibes. It backfired because the US Attorney recused himself from the investigation.
Menendez also “agreed to interfere in a New Jersey state criminal prosecution dealing with an associate of Uribe, who faced insurance fraud charges relating to a trucking company and an employee of Uribe” in exchange for a luxury car.
Lastly, they caught Menendez searching google in 2022 to find out how much his gold bars were worth.