According to documents released this Friday (22), and presented in Manhattan federal court, Sen. Robert Menéndez, DN.J. and his wife were indicted on federal bribery charges.
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As a result, between 2018 and mid-2022, Menendez and his wife Nadine received “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in bribes and used the senator’s influence to enrich three New Jersey businessmen and benefit the Egyptian government.
The 69-year-old senator and his wife were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under the guise of official privilege.
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The bribes the couple allegedly received included “cash, gold bars, home mortgage payments, compensation for low- or no-show work, a luxury vehicle, and other items of value.”
According to a source close to Menéndez, he said he will step down as president of the Foreign Relations Committee during the case. The senator’s office did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Federal agents allege that in June 2022, they found several items when they executed a search warrant at the couple’s home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
They allegedly found more than US$480,000 in cash, “much of it stuffed in envelopes and hidden in clothes, closets and a safe,” jackets with the senator’s name on them hanging in his closet and more than US$70,000 in the senator’s safe.
Nadine Menendez. Agents reportedly found a Mercedes-Benz convertible worth more than $60,000 that New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Jose Uribe gave to Nadine Menendez in exchange for interfering in a state criminal case against Uribe’s associate. Uribe is noted as a relative.
Namely, if they end up being convicted, Menéndez and his wife must lose “all United States assets, real and personal, traceable or acquired through the commission of the alleged crimes”, if the confiscations are approved by a judge, it states the accusation.
This includes his home in Englewood Cliffs, NJ; A Mercedes-Benz convertible, more than $486,000 was seized from the home, nearly $80,000 was seized from a safe and several gold bars were taken from his home.