Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey has been charged in a federal corruption indictment, the authorities said on Friday.

The indictment against Mr. Menendez, a 69-year-old Democrat who leads the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, follows a lengthy investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and comes nearly six years after his trial on unrelated claims of corruption ended with a hung jury.

The indictment, unsealed in Manhattan federal court, also names the senator’s wife of three years, Nadine Menendez, 56, and a prominent New Jersey real estate developer, Fred Daibes, accusing them of participating in the corrupt scheme. Wael Hana, a longtime friend of Ms. Menendez’s who founded a halal meat certification business in New Jersey, was also charged, as was a fifth person, Jose Uribe, a New Jersey businessman.

It has been known for some time that Mr. Menendez was under federal scrutiny, and he has said he was willing to assist investigators and was confident the matter would be “successfully closed.”

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has been indicted and charged with corruption for the second time in 10 years. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, were indicted "in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen," according to a statement on X, formerly Twitter, from the U.S. attorney in New York. They are charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.

Three businessmen from New Jersey − Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes −have been charged with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. Menendez is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the indictment highlights Egypt being one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid in the world. Between 2018 and 2022, government provided grans totaling more than $1 billion per year in military financing and military sales, according to the indictment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan will hold a press conference for 11 a.m. Friday to provide more details on the indictment.

The 69-year-old senator and his wife "allegedly accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using Menendez’s power and influence as a senator to seek to protect and enrich Hana, Uribe, and Daibes and benefit the Government of Egypt," prosecutors said in a news release.

Over $480,000 in cash—much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe—was discovered in the home, along with over $70,000 in NADINE MENENDEZ’s safe deposit box. Some of the envelopes contained the fingerprints and/or DNA of DAIBES or his driver. Other of the3 envelopes were found inside jackets bearing MENENDEZ’s name and hanging in his closet, as depicted below.

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. Two of the gold bars DAIBES provided are depicted in the photographs below.

First, MENENDEZ promised to and did use his influence and power and breach his official duty in ways that benefited the Government of Egypt and WAEL HANA, a/k/a “Will Hana,” the defendant, an Egyptian-American businessman, among others. Among other actions, MENENDEZ provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt. 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.

Second, MENENDEZ promised to and did use his influence and power and breach his official duty to seek to disrupt a criminal investigation and prosecution undertaken by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office related to JOSE URIBE, the defendant, and his associates.

Third, MENENDEZ promised to and did use his influence and power and breach his official duty to recommend that the President nominate an individual as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey who MENENDEZ believed could be influenced by MENENDEZ with respect to the federal criminal prosecution of FRED DAIBES, the defendant, and to seek to disrupt that same prosecution.

He successfully avoided charges in one case, and after federal prosecutors indicted him in another, he got off after a mistrial in 2017. “To those who were digging my political grave,” Mr. Menendez warned then with characteristic bravado, “I know who you are and I won’t forget you.” Six years later, he is once again on the brink, battling for his political life after federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed a jarring new indictment on Friday charging the powerful Democratic senator and his wife in a garish bribery scheme involving a foreign power, piles of cash and gold bars. A defiant Mr. Menendez, 69, immediately vowed to clear his name from what he cast as just more smears by vengeful prosecutors. A top adviser said that he would also continue running for re-election in 2024, when he is trying to secure a fourth full term.

For now, Mr. Menendez appeared to be on firmer footing among his colleagues in the Senate, including party leaders who could force his hand. They accepted his temporary resignation as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, but did not ask him to leave office. In a statement, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, called Mr. Menendez “a dedicated public servant” and said that his colleague had “a right to due process and a fair trial.”

Democrats have not lost a Senate race in New Jersey since the 1970s. But allowing Mr. Menendez to stay in office could at the least force the party to spend heavily to defend the seat at a time when it already faces daunting odds of retaining a razor-thin majority. “I understand personal loyalty, and I understand the depths of friendships, but somebody needs to take a stand here,” said Robert Torricelli, the former Democratic senator from New Jersey. “This is not about him — it’s about holding the majority.” Mr. Torricelli speaks from experience. He retired rather than seek re-election in 2002 after his own ethics scandal ended without charges. He was also widely believed to be a target of Mr. Menendez’s ire after the former senator put his hand up to succeed Mr. Menendez had he been convicted in 2017.

Mr. Menendez is far from the first elected official in New Jersey to face serious criminal allegations. With a long tradition of one-party rule, a bare-knuckle political culture and an unusual patchwork of governmental fiefs, the state has been a hotbed for corruption that has felled city councilors, mayors, state legislators and members of Congress. The Washington Post tried to quantify the criminality in 2015 and found that New Jersey’s rate of crime per politician easily led any other state.

The Biden administration notified Congress this week of plans to deny Egypt $85 million in military aid and redirect much of it to Taiwan due to concerns about political prisoners and other human rights abuses in Cairo.

NonServiam wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 10:27 am He took money from businesses and used his position in government to help those same businesses?! You've got to be kidding! No way! No FUCKING way!

Let this be a lesson to all the other politicians that the first one of them to ever attempt a stunt like this was immediately found out and suffered the consequences.

TrueTexan wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 12:12 pm

NonServiam wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 10:27 am He took money from businesses and used his position in government to help those same businesses?! You've got to be kidding! No way! No FUCKING way!

Let this be a lesson to all the other politicians that the first one of them to ever attempt a stunt like this was immediately found out and suffered the consequences.

What he did is really no different than when a corporation or the CEO of a corporation gives money to the campaign of a politician and the elected politician returns the favor by making sure the interest of the business and CEO are given special treatment. Also the same idea goes for thePACs such as the AIPAC as an example only that is given to certain politicians to insure that a foreign government gets special treatment. We should really be looking at the dealing of TOS and Jared with the Saudi government and the 2 billion dollars invest by the Saudi’s in Jared investment fund.

Amid a flurry of calls by fellow Senate Democrats to resign, Sen. Bob Menendez arrived at federal court in New York Wednesday morning for his initial appearance on charges relating to an alleged bribery conspiracy involving payments in gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, a luxury car and passing sensitive information to the Egyptian government. Menendez has been charged with three counts for allegedly taking bribes to use his political power and connections to help the government of Egypt obtain military aid as well as pressure a state prosecutor investigating New Jersey businessmen and attempt to influence the federal prosecution of a co-defendant.

The senator will appear before a federal judge for his initial appearance in the case along with his wife Nadine, who is also charged in the case, and two other co-defendants. Wael Hana, who is also charged in the conspiracy, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday. More than 20 Democratic senators, including his fellow New Jersey senator Cory Booker, have called for Menendez, to resign. Menendez, who is up for reelection next year, has already stepped down from his post as the Foreign Relations Committee chairman.

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez has pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges. The senior lawmaker from New Jersey is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for using his official role as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee − a position he has since stepped down from − to benefit the government of Egypt, according to the unsealed indictment.

Menendez entered his plea late Wednesday morning in a federal courtroom in Manhattan. He and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, arrived at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse shortly after 8 a.m. The couple held hands as they pushed their way forward through a gaggle of press and photographers. In the distance, a bystander yelled "Resign!"

When U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez lashed out at the criminal charges filed against him during a news conference on Monday, he did it in English and Spanish. It was a reminder that the Cuban American Democrat holds a historic place among Latinos in New Jersey, as the first Hispanic representative from New Jersey ever to serve in Congress. Menendez, during a news conference in his hometown of Union City, suggested his ethnicity may have something to do with the forces arrayed against him.

But if Hispanic leaders in New Jersey are any guide, the community has yet to rally around him. Instead, his legal predicament has some in the Latino community taking a wait-and-see approach rather than issuing calls for resignation or forthright support. The Latino Action Network and the Latino Coalition of New Jersey, two advocacy groups based in Central Jersey, issued a joint statement on Monday saying that while they are “deeply concerned and disheartened” by the indictment, they “support a comprehensive investigation into these charges.”

New Charges Against Sen. Bob Menendez Allege He Acted As Foreign Agent For Egypt

The Department of Justice charged Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) for illegally acting as a foreign agent for Egypt in a superseding indictment released on Thursday.

Menendez and wife Nadine Menendez already faced charges of accepting bribes from an Egyptian American businessman and his associates in exchange for using his official position as both the senior senator from New Jersey and the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to help them and the Egyptian government.