Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his spouse charged with bribery

US Senator Mr. Robert Menendez earlier than his assembly with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Nikos Christodoulides on the Presidential Palace within the capital of Nicosia. Cyprus, Thursday, August 24, 2023.

Danil Shamkin | Nurphoto | Getty Photographs

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his spouse have been indicted in New York on federal bribery fees for accepting money, gold bars, residence mortgage funds and extra as a part of “corrupt relationship” that protected three businessmen from their residence state and benefited the nation of Egypt.

“This investigation may be very a lot ongoing,” stated Manhattan U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace Damian Williams at a press convention in regards to the indictment in opposition to the Democratic senator and his spouse, Nadine Menendez. “We aren’t finished.”

Additionally charged within the case are the three businessmen: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes.

Menendez, who’s up for reelection in 2024, has agreed to step down as chairman of the highly effective Senate International Relations Committee due to the indictment, in response to a supply near him who spoke with NBC Information.

He and the opposite defendants are as a result of seem Wednesday morning in Manhattan federal court docket.

The indictment says that Menendez and his spouse from no less than 2018 by 2022 accepted “a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in bribes in alternate for utilizing Menendez’s energy and affect as Senator” to profit the lads and Egypt.

“These bribes included money, gold, funds towards a house mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job [for Nadine], a luxurious automobile, and different issues of worth,” in response to the indictment, which was issued by a grand jury.

That is the second time Menendez has been indicted on federal bribery fees.

In 2015, he was charged with 14 prison counts associated to a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} price of lavish items and marketing campaign donations he obtained from a Florida ophthalmologist, Salomon Melgen.

Melgen was later convicted of Medicare fraud and sentenced to greater than 15 years in jail. However the prosecution in opposition to Menendez was dropped after his trial led to a hung jury.

U.S. Senate International Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his spouse Nadine Arslanian arrive for a reception honoring of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his spouse Mareva Mitsotakis within the East Room of the White Home on Could 16, 2022 in Washington, DC.

Chip Somodevilla | Getty Photographs

Menedez and Nadine within the new case are charged with three counts: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit trustworthy providers fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion underneath shade of official proper.

Hana, Uribe and Daibes are charged with the primary two of these counts.

The indictment alleges that Menendez sought to disrupt a federal prison prosecution of Daibes in alternate for the cash and different gadgets of worth.

These efforts allegedly included the senator recommending to President Joe Biden that he nominate a candidate for U.S. Lawyer for New Jersey “who Menendez believed could possibly be influenced by Menendez with respect to Daibes’s case,” the indictment fees.

Biden later nominated Phillip Sellinger as U.S. Lawyer for New Jersey. Sellinger ended up being confirmed for that submit as the highest federal prosecutor within the state.

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A cellphone message left at Menendez’s private Senate workplace was not instantly returned. A spokesman for the Senate International Relations Committee didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Nadine’s lawyer David Schertler, in an announcement to WNBC, stated, “Ms. Menendez denies any wrongdoing and can defend vigorously in opposition to these allegations in court docket.”

A spokesman for Hana stated, “We’re nonetheless reviewing the fees however primarily based upon our preliminary overview, they’ve completely no benefit.”

A lawyer for Daibes stated, “We’re assured that Mr. Daibes can be utterly exonerated of all fees.”

The indictment says that in a June 2022 raid on the Menendezes’ New Jersey residence and a protected deposit field, federal brokers discovered money, gold and a luxurious automobile that have been the “fruits of [the couple’s] corrupt bribery settlement” with the businessmen.

“Over $480,000 in money — a lot of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothes, closets, and a protected—was found within the residence, together with over $70,000 in Nadine Menendez’s protected deposit field,” the indictment stated.

“Among the envelopes contained the fingerprints and/or DNA of Daibes or his driver,” the charging doc stated.

Along with the money, brokers additionally seized 81.5 ounces of gold bars, which at present costs are price about $155,000.

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Two of the gold bars DAIBES supplied are depicted within the pictures.

Supply: SDNY

The non-profit advocacy group Residents for Accountability and Ethics on Friday referred to as for Menendez to resign.

“The stain of corruption repeatedly taints Menendez,” stated CREW President Noah Bookbinder. “CREW has for years raised issues about Menendez probably promoting his place, and the Senate Ethics Committee beforehand discovered critical misconduct by him.”

“The conduct outlined in at the moment’s indictment and the proof introduced are much more damning,” Bookbinder stated.

Menendez was organising a authorized protection fund in reference to the prison probe earlier than he was indicted, in response to NBC New York.

That protection fund seems to be run immediately by Menendez and his longtime marketing campaign treasurer John Palumbo, in response to a submitting despatched to the Inner Income Service.

The doc, signed by Palumbo in July, lists Menendez as a “grantor” of the fund and the marketing campaign treasurer as a “trustee.”

The fund is titled the “Menendez Authorized Protection Fund” and with a listed objective of paying “bills in reference to authorized proceedings incurred in reference to service to the U.S. Senate.”

The brand new indictment in opposition to Menendez comes practically a decade after the Supreme Courtroom started making it tougher for federal prosecutors to win corruption circumstances in opposition to elected officers and others for acts associated to authorities providers.

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was convicted of corruption in 2014, solely to have his conviction overturned two years later by the Supreme Courtroom in a ruling.

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Courtroom discovered that prosecutors had utilized what justices referred to as “a boundless” definition of what constitutes an official act.

In 2020, the Supreme Courtroom in a unanimous ruling reversed the fraud convictions of two aides to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who performed key roles within the 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal.

Justice Elena Kagan within the determination wrote that Bridget Anne Kelly and William Baroni “couldn’t have violated the federal-program fraud or wire fraud legal guidelines” as a result of the scheme didn’t “goal to acquire cash or property.”

Final 12 months, one other unanimous Supreme Courtroom ruling tossed out the conviction on a so-called “trustworthy providers” cost of Joseph Percoco, the supervisor of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s re-election marketing campaign.

That is breaking information. Please test again for updates.