Fall from grace: Senator Bob Menendez leaving the court amid his corruption investigation. Credit score: Lev Rashin / Shutterstock
US Senator Bob Menendez has been convicted on corruption fees involving bribes and secret offers with the Egyptian executive, significantly receiving presents of gold bars and a Mercedes convertible.
The New Jersey Democrat and previous head of the Overseas Members of the family Committee used to be dominated on July 17 to have engaged in bribery, extortion, cord fraud, obstruction of justice, and performing as a overseas agent. A lot of the proof used within the nine-week trial used to be present in a June 2022 FBI raid of the Menendez house, which amongst different issues, yielded $550,000 hidden round the house, gold bars, and jewelry given as presents through businessmen whose pursuits Menendez used to be protective.
Menendez won those bills and presents from the Egyptian executive by way of New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes. At the side of the FBI, the New York Southern District Lawyer´s Administrative center performed a complete investigation into the connections of those 3 to Menendez and overseas governments reminiscent of Egypt.
Connection to Egypt
In a while after marrying Bob Menendez, Nadine Menendez labored with Wael Hana to introduce Egyptian officers to her husband. Facilitated through Uribe and Daibes, the gang started a corrupt association wherein Bob Menendez would funnel knowledge to his spouse, then she would go it directly to Hana, who would then distribute it to the Egyptian executive. The usage of his place of energy within the executive, Menendez would additionally power the federal government from inside of to learn Egypt, reminiscent of through approving a €2.2 billion guns sale to Egypt and making an attempt to dissuade the USDA from investigating a Halal meat monopoly related to Hana.
Turning a blind eye
Uribe testified in opposition to Menendez, explaining how he bribed Menendez to persuade state prosecutors clear of investigating Uribe and his friends. In his testimony, he said that he had bribed Menendez with money or even paid for Bob´s spouse, Nadine Menendez´s Mercedes, to score a greater ruling for an affiliate of Uribe´s in addition to preventing investigations that might implicate Uribe´s spouse and daughter.
His sentencing for all 16 fees will probably be hung on October 29, 2024, with a most sentence of 222 years if every price is dominated to be served non-simultaneously. Sentencing in such circumstances are infrequently dominated to warrant the utmost sentence, on the other hand, and within the interim, Menendez and his prison crew have vowed to enchantment the ruling.