A federal jury on Tuesday found Senator Bob Menendez guilty on all counts in his corruption trial in New York.
Prosecutors claim the New Jersey Democrat accepted bribes totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for political influence. The gifts allegedly included cash, gold bars, mortgage payments, and other items – the purported recipients of political favors including the governments of Egypt and Qatar, as well as three New Jersey businessmen who were also indicted.
Menendez, 70, had pleaded not guilty to 16 criminal charges including bribery, fraud, foreign agent activity, and obstruction of justice.
During the trial, jurors were shown more than a dozen gold bars seized by federal agents at Menendez’s residence in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Agents also found more than $480,000 in cash, some of it hidden in envelopes inside a jacket bearing the senator’s initials.
The prosecution’s narrative was bolstered by the guilty plea of businessman Jose Uribe, who admitted to bribing Menendez in exchange for the senator’s help in legal matters. Two other businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, are also on trial for allegedly bribing the senator.
The defendant’s attorneys sought to place the blame on the senator’s wife, Nadine, a 57-year-old cancer patient who was described as a go-between for the bribes. In their opening statements, they pointed out that the gold was in fact found in Nadine’s closet and argued that the two lived largely separate lives. Menendez’s attorneys also claimed that he always kept cash regularly withdrawn from banks in his home – a circumstance that was confirmed by Menendez’s older sister, who testified that their father, a Cuban immigrant, kept cash in a grandfather clock and warned his children to “not trust banks.”
An FBI agent told jurors that she overheard Nadine Menendez asking Egyptian officials during a restaurant meal, “What else can the love of my life do for you?” Ms. Menendez has entered a not guilty plea as well, and a separate trial is scheduled for a later time.
The ruling is likely to bring the senator’s three terms in office to an end. After accusations first surfaced last September, he resigned as the head of the Senate’s powerful foreign affairs committee but defied demands from fellow Democrats to step aside. He is standing as an independent in November to retain his position – with little chance of victory.
