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from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sen-bob-menendez-indicted-federal-charges-rcna111447

Sen. Bob Menendez and wife, Nadine, indicted on bribery charges
The New Jersey Democrat and Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair had
been under investigation for about a year. This is his second indictment
since becoming a senator.

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Sept. 22, 2023, 6:33 AM PDT / Updated Sept. 22, 2023, 10:01 AM PDT
By Rebecca Shabad, Jonathan Dienst, Tom Winter and Dareh Gregorian
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and his wife have been charged with
bribery over the alleged receipt of “hundreds of thousands of dollars”
in return for the use of his influence to enrich three New Jersey
businessmen and benefit the Egyptian government, according to an
indictment in Manhattan federal court that was made public Friday.

The charges include conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit
honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. The bribes the couple received included “cash, gold
bars, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show
job, a luxury vehicle and other items of value,” the indictment alleges.

Federal agents said they discovered many of the items when they executed
search warrants on the couple’s home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, in
June 2022. They found more than $480,000 in cash “much of it stuffed
into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe,” including jackets bearing the senator’s name that were hanging in his closet, as
well as more than $70,000 in Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box, the indictment alleges.

Federal investigators allege cash found money stuffed in Menendez
jackets when they executed a search warrant in June 2022.
Federal investigators allege they found money stuffed in Menendez's
jackets when they executed a search warrant in June 2022.USDC Southern
District of New York
Agents also allegedly discovered a Mercedes-Benz convertible worth more
than $60,000 that New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Jose Uribe gave
to Menendez's wife in exchange for the senator’s interference in a state prosecution of Uribe’s associate and investigation into an employee whom Uribe referred to as a relative. Federal agents also found gold bars
worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the senator's home that were
provided by Hana and another businessman, Fred Daibes. All three
businessmen were also charged in the indictment.

Menendez will step down as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee
while the case proceeds, a source close to him said.

Menendez dismissed the allegations against him in a statement, saying prosecutors have “misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office.”

“I remain focused on continuing this important work and will not be distracted by baseless allegations,” he said.

Nadine Menendez’s lawyer, David Schertler, said in a statement that she “denies any wrongdoing and will defend vigorously against these
allegations in court.”

Federal investigators allege Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., received bribes
in the form of gold bars.
Federal investigators allege Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., received bribes
in the form of gold bars.USDC Southern District of New York
The senator and his co-defendants are expected to appear in the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of New York, in lower
Manhattan, at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, and will be arraigned later that day.

The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian
Williams, announced the charges at a news conference Friday. Williams
noted that Menendez's Senate website says he can't compel an agency to
act in someone's favor, influence matters involving a private business
or get involved in criminal matters, "but we allege that behind the
scenes, Sen. Menendez was doing those things for certain people — the
people who were bribing him and his wife," he said.

The investigation in the case is ongoing, Williams said, asking that
anyone with knowledge of the matter call the FBI's tip line.

Among the allegations in the indictment is that Menendez "provided
sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly
aided the Government of Egypt." It also says the senator pressured an
official at the U.S. Agriculture Department for the purpose of
protecting a business monopoly granted to Hana, who is an Egyptian
American, by Egypt.

According to the indictment, Hana and Nadine Menendez "were friends for
many years" before she started dating the senator. In early 2018, she
informed Hana that she was dating Menendez and "in the following months
and years," they worked to introduce Egyptian intelligence and military officials to the senator "for the purpose of establishing and
solidifying a corrupt agreement" in which Hana, with assistance from the
two other businessmen, "provided hundreds of thousands of dollars of
bribes" to the senator and his wife "in exchange for Menendez's acts and breaches of duty to benefit the Government of Egypt, Hana, and others, including with respect to foreign military sales and foreign military financing," the filing alleges.


Prosecutors announce charges against Sen. Menendez for 'bribery offenses'
SEPT. 22, 202305:44
In around March of 2018, Menendez met with Egyptian military officials
"at a meeting arranged and attended by his then-girlfriend Nadine
Menendez and her friend Hana" at the senator's office in Washington,
D.C., the indictment says. The meeting did not involve professional
staff from his Senate office or the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

In May 2018, the indictment alleges, the senator sought "non-public
information regarding the number and nationality of persons serving at
the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt" from the State Department, which was considered "highly sensitive" because it could "pose significant
operational security concerns if disclosed to a foreign government or if
made public." Without informing any of his staff on Capitol Hill or the
State Department, he texted that information to his then-girlfriend,
Nadine. She forwarded it to Hana, who then forwarded it to an Egyptian government official, the filing alleges.

In March 2020, Nadine Menendez texted an Egyptian official that "anytime
you need anything you have my number and we will make everything
happen," the indictment says. A few days later, she arranged for the
senator to meet with that official, whom Nadine referred to as "the
general" to discuss negotiations over a dam on the Nile River in the
region of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. Eventually, the senator reached out
to the secretaries of Treasury and State in a letter saying he was
writing "to express my concern about the stalled negotiations."

The indictment also alleges Menendez “promised to and did use his
influence and power and breach his official duty to recommend that the President nominate an individual for U.S. Attorney for the District of
New Jersey who Menendez believed" he could influence regarding the
federal prosecution of New Jersey developer Daibes.

Federal investigators allege they found money stuffed in Menendez
jackets when they executed a search warrant in June 2022.
Money allegedly found in Menendez's jackets during a June 2022 search
warrant, according to federal investigators.USDC Southern District of
New York
A spokesperson for Hana said they are reviewing the charges, but "based
upon our initial review, they have absolutely no merit." Daibes' lawyer
said in a statement, "Based upon our review, we are confident that Mr.
Daibes will be completely exonerated of all charges."

The indictment says Menendez and his wife will have to forfeit "to the
U.S. any and all property, real and personal, that constitutes or is
derived from proceeds traceable to the commission of said offenses" if convicted and the forfeitures are approved by a judge. That would
include their home in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; the Mercedes-Benz
convertible, more than $486,000 seized from the home, nearly $80,000
seized from a safe deposit box, and several gold bars taken from their home.

The indictment comes after a yearlong corruption probe led by Williams's office. Menendez has previously denied any wrongdoing, saying in May, “I
am sure it is going to end up in absolutely nothing."

The indictment is the second the senator has faced since he was elected
to the Senate in 2006. He was charged in 2015 with illegally accepting
favors from a Florida eye doctor, including flights on a private jet,
three nights at a five-star hotel in Paris and more than $700,000 in
political contributions for him and the Democratic Party.

The case ended in a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a
unanimous verdict. Federal prosecutors decided not to retry him.

Menendez appears to be the first sitting senator in U.S. history to be
indicted on two unrelated criminal allegations, according to data
compiled by the Senate Historical Office. The senator, was elected to a
third term with 54% of the vote, is up for re-election next year.



Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington.

Jonathan Dienst is chief justice contributor for NBC News and chief investigative reporter for WNBC-TV in New York.

Tom Winter is a New York-based correspondent covering crime, courts,
terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast for the NBC News
Investigative Unit.

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

Ken Dilanian, Courtney Copenhagen and Frank Thorp V contributed.

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