On Tuesday, a federal jury in Manhattan found Sen. Robert Bob Menendez guilty of using his power as a powerful Congressman to help businesspeople in New Jersey as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar in exchange for bribes that included gold bars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Senator Robert Bob Menendez of New Jersey was convicted guilty of all charges stemming from a massive scheme to sell his position to shady firms and foreign governments in exchange for cash, a fancy automobile, and gold bars.
Twelve New York jurors convicted him guilty of all 16 counts, including honest services wire theft, bribery, and extortion. Mr. Menendez, a Democrat whose term ends at the end of the year, is only the seventh sitting U.S. senator to be found guilty of a criminal crime.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes Benz have always been at the center of this case. It wasn’t like politics as usual. “This was political interference to make money,” U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said outside the building. “After being found guilty by a jury, Bob Menendez can no longer sell his office to anyone who pays the most.”
Bob Menendez quit as head of the foreign affairs panel after being charged, but he stayed in the U.S. Senate and is still running as an independent for reelection in November.
Bob Menendez was put on trial with two other businessmen, Egyptian-American Wael Hana and real estate developer Fred Daibes, who were both accused of paying him. An additional investor named Jose Uribe admitted guilt and spoke out against the other two.
Hana and Daibes were also found guilty of all the charges against them.
Woman who is married to Menendez, Nadine, was also charged in the case. She was supposed to go to a different trial this summer after being told she had breast cancer, but on Tuesday, the judge put off her trial indefinitely. There was no reason given. The government says she acted as a go-between for the businesses to protect her husband.
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