Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine allegedly received thousands of dollars, gold bars and property in exchange for helping three businessmen in New Jersey and benefiting the government of Egypt.
Senator Bob Menendez (N.J.) and his wife Nadine are facing charges that they received bribes from three businessmen they allegedly benefited and who gave them property, cash and gold bullion.
Senator Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine face accusations in a court in New York. / PHOTO: STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damina Williams, showed a photograph of the cash and gold bullion found on the Democratic Senator’s property.
The gold is estimated at more than $150,000 dollars, while the money was found among clothes, in envelopes and a fountain box. The indictment points out two amounts: $480,000 dollars and $70,000 dollars.
“More than $480,000 in cash was discovered in the home, much of it stuffed in envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe, along with more than $70,000 in Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box,” the document states. “Some of the envelopes contained fingerprints and/or DNA of Daibes or his driver.”
The prosecutor confirmed the findings and reported that Senator Menendez and his wife would have received that money in exchange for helping businessmen Wael “Will” Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibe.
“Those bribes included cash, gold, mortgage payments on a home, compensation for little or no work, a luxury vehicle and other things of value,” the indictment says.
The FBI found cash at the Menendez home. / PHOTO: Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern District of NY
It also states that Senator Menendez allegedly obtained “highly classified” information from the State Department about employees of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
The information was sent by Menendez to his wife, who then shared it with one of the other three defendants, Hana, who in turn sent the information to an Egyptian official.
Senator Menendez dismisses the accusations and describes the facts as a kind of plot against him, in addition to criticizing “abuses” of the prosecutors in the investigation.
“They have misrepresented the normal work of a congressional office,” he charged. “On top of that, not content with making false claims against me, they attacked my wife because of longtime friendships she had before she and I met.”