{"id":26158,"date":"2023-09-22T19:49:51","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T23:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=26158"},"modified":"2023-09-22T19:49:51","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T23:49:51","slug":"us-senator-bob-menendez-charged-with-bribery-after-wads-of-cash-and-gold-bars-found-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2023\/09\/22\/us-senator-bob-menendez-charged-with-bribery-after-wads-of-cash-and-gold-bars-found-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"US senator Bob Menendez charged with bribery after wads of cash and gold bars found at home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bob Menendez, a Democrat senator in the US, has been indicted on charges he took cash, gold and a luxury car in exchange for alleged corruption.<\/p>\n

Menendez and his wife are alleged to have have handed over sensitive US government information to Egyptian officials, as well as taking other steps to help the country, including ghost-writing a letter that pushed his colleagues to lift a bar on $300m (\u00a3224m) in aid.<\/p>\n

Officials also said the senator, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tried to halt a criminal investigation into an associate by pushing for a US attorney nominee that he thought he could influence.<\/p>\n

The couple’s home was searched, with investigators finding $100,000 (\u00a381,000) in gold bars, as well as $480,000 (\u00a3390,000) in hidden cash, according to prosecutors, who revealed the charges against Menendez almost six years after a previous criminal case against him ended with a deadlocked jury.<\/p>\n

Responding, Menendez accused prosecutors of misrepresenting “the normal work of a congressional office” and writing “these charges as they wanted”, adding he has been falsely accused of accepting bribes and “will not be distracted” from his work in the Senate.<\/p>\n

“For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave,” Menendez said.<\/p>\n

“Since this investigation was leaked nearly a year ago, there has been an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists.”<\/p>\n

A lawyer for his wife Nadine said she denies the charges.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged in 2020 the 69-year-old lobbied then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo to increase US engagement in stalled talks with Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to build a dam over the Nile, following a meeting with an Egyptian official.<\/p>\n

They said Menendez and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from three business associates, as well as using influence to encourage the president to choose a US attorney for New Jersey who would protect Fred Daibes, a friend and developer who was facing criminal charges.<\/p>\n

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\"rovided<\/div>
The gold bars found in Menendez’s home. (Image: AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\"Damian<\/div>
Damian Williams, attorney for the southern district of New York, presenting evidence. (Image: AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to the indictment, after Menendez called an official about Daibes, his wife received a Mercedes-Benz from other business associates.<\/p>\n

The indictment says that after the purchase was complete, Nadine Menendez texted her husband to say: “Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes,” with a heart emoji.<\/p>\n

The New Jersey senator will have to step down from his foreign committee, according to party rules.<\/p>\n

It is not the first time he has faced legal charges – in was indicted in 2015 over accusations he used his influence to help an eye doctor from Florida, who had been handing over gifts to him.<\/p>\n

He was eventually cleared of the charges.<\/p>\n

Source: \u00a0\"Sky<\/a> news.sky.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bob Menendez, a Democrat senator in the US, has been indicted on charges he took cash, gold and a luxury car in exchange for alleged corruption. Menendez and his wife are alleged to have have […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,2,3],"tags":[9748,800,948,697,4195,556],"class_list":{"0":"post-26158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headline","8":"category-news","9":"category-usa","10":"tag-bob-menendez","11":"tag-bribery","12":"tag-corruption","13":"tag-egypt","14":"tag-gold","15":"tag-new-jersey","16":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26161,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26158\/revisions\/26161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}