Bob Menendez: Here’s what prosecutors say they bought from the U.S. senator

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New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez faces his second clear bribery and corruption trial in seven years starting Monday.

The new case involves multiple gold bars, envelopes of cash, a Mercedes, and many other items, including the powerful former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his new wife (the two married amid bribery allegations). Prosecutors say it’s a complex case involving several people. ) in return for supporting a halal meat monopoly, favoring the people of Egypt and Qatar, and trying to influence prosecutors in New Jersey.

Menendez, who has until June to announce whether he will run for re-election, maintains his innocence and denies all charges. “He looks forward to proving his innocence,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju at the Capitol last week.

Also named as defendants, his wife Nadine and two businessmen with ties to Egypt and Qatar, Wael Hana and Fred Deives, respectively, have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. Meanwhile, another New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Here’s what prosecutors learned about the senator and his wife:

Prosecutors allege that Hana and Duives gave the gold to Menendez and his wife, which the FBI seized from Menendez’s residence. After returning from a trip to Egypt and having a Dives driver drive him home from the airport, prosecutors said Menendez searched online for the price of gold bars.

The indictment includes a photo of a pile of cash next to an envelope spread out on a jacket with the senator’s name embroidered on it. One photo shows a pile of $20 and $50 bills, and another shows $100 bills.

Cash was also found in a closet, safe and Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box. Prosecutors said some of the envelopes had fingerprints or DNA from Dybes ​​or the driver.

Total amount of cash found: More than $480,000 in the home and more than $70,000 in a safe deposit box.

A subsequent court filing that added charges in the case was more specific, explaining that a bag full of cash was found on a hanger in the senator’s basement and stuffed into a boot in a closet. .

The 2019 vehicle, which prosecutors estimate to be worth more than $60,000, was parked in Menendez’s driveway when it was searched.

The indictment states that Nadine Menendez obtained $15,000 in cash from Uribe in the parking lot the day before she picked up the car and made a $15,000 down payment. Uribe then allegedly concealed the monthly loan payments on the car.

Later, after the raid, she wrote Mr. Uribe a check for $21,000, which prosecutors allege was a clean-up effort and disguised the gift as a loan.

Nadine Menendez apparently needed a new car after she was fatally struck by a jaywalker in Bogotá, New Jersey, in December 2018. A police report was filed against her, but she was not charged.

Prosecutors say the senators also tried to hide about $23,000 in aid they received from Hana’s halal meat company, which rescued Nadine Menendez from foreclosure on her mortgage. The refund check was paid in December 2022, several months after the initial raid on the senator’s home.

Prosecutors say Hana’s company paid Nadine Menendez $10,000 in three separate payments. At the time, they allege, she acted as something of a go-between between Egyptian officials, Mr. Hana, and the senator.

Prosecutors describe a recorded conversation between Hana and a confidential source in which Hana offered Nadine Menendez’s car and an engagement in exchange for the senator’s “backing” in a New Jersey criminal case. He allegedly received $150,000 from a man to buy a ring. He saved the man for three years.

Prosecutors said in a February court filing that Nadine Menendez arranged to install carpet in the basement of her home, apparently in exchange for setting up a dinner with senators and officials. In addition, prosecutors said, there was also his call to interfere in the New Jersey case. State prosecutor.

The original indictment, filed in September 2023, mentions some furniture and furnishings provided by Hana and Dybes, but does not go into detail.

In a superseding indictment filed in March, prosecutors allege that Menendez obtained tickets to Formula 1 races for relatives of Nadine Menendez in 2022 and 2023. During that period, Mr. Menendez made comments supporting Qatar and encouraged Qatari officials to invest in Dives’ real estate business, which he ultimately did.

Mr. Duybes allegedly sent the senator photos of luxury watches valued at approximately $10,000 to $24,000, but it is not clear from the filing whether Mr. Menendez ever obtained the watches.

There is a long list of things that prosecutors allege Mr. Menendez did in exchange for all of these bribery charges. They allege that Mr. Menendez, during his previous stint as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

…lobbied the U.S. Department of Agriculture to maintain Hana’s monopoly on U.S. halal meat exports to Egypt, even if prices went up.

…meeted with Egyptian officials in exchange for cash.

…Also provided Mr. Hana with non-confidential but non-public information regarding employees of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt.

…conveyed information to Hana regarding U.S. military sales to Egypt and authorized certain sales.

…reached out to Qataris on behalf of the Daibes real estate project and supported a pro-Qatari resolution in the Senate.

…attempted to influence New Jersey litigation involving Uribe and his associates. As a reminder, Mr. Uribe is currently cooperating with prosecutors.

…attempted to impede the federal prosecution of Duives.

Again, Menendez denies all charges, and selection of the jury that will hear his side of the story begins Monday in New York. Nadine Menendez’s trial is scheduled for July.

Perhaps Menendez and his wife could convincingly argue that the mortgage and car payments were loans. Mr. Menendez will likely claim he was unaware of payments related to dinners and functions hosted by his wife. Prosecutors have argued that the presence of Duives’ fingerprints on the envelope containing the cash may be difficult to explain.

Mr. Menendez is used to being under the scrutiny of federal prosecutors. The Justice Department ultimately decided not to retry Mr. Menendez in 2018 after a previous jury deadlocked over whether Mr. Menendez had accepted trips or gifts from his friend, an ophthalmologist named Salomon Melgen. It was determined.

Mr. Melgen was jailed for a separate Medicare fraud scheme, but his sentence was commuted by then-President Donald Trump after Mr. Menendez lobbied on Mr. Melgen’s behalf.