Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is being charged with bribery offenses in a federal indictment out of the Southern District of New York to be unsealed Friday, prosecutors announced.
“A press event will be held today at 11:00 a.m. to announce the unsealing of an indictment charging Robert Menendez, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, with bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen,” the U.S. attorney’s office posted on X.
NBC News 4 reported Monday that the FBI and IRS criminal investigators are attempting to determine if Menendez or his wife had taken up to $400,000 worth of gold bars from Fred Daibes, a New Jersey developer and former bank chairman, or his associates in a swap for Menendez reaching out to the Justice Department to aid the “admitted felon” accused of banking crimes.
The unsealed indictment alleges that from at least 2018 through 2022, Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, “engaged in a corrupt relationship” with Daibes, Wael Hana and Jose Uribe.
The couple is accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using Menendez’s power and influence as a senator to seek to protect and enrich Hana, Uribe, and Daibes and to benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt.”
The alleged bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle and “other things of value.”
Menendez’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors say that Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, provided sensitive U.S. government information to Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman, that “secretly aided the Government of Egypt.” The indictment states that Menendez improperly pressured an official at the Department of Agriculture to protect a business monopoly granted to Hana by the Egyptian government. Hana then allegedly kicked back profits from his monopoly to Menendez.
The senator is also accused of using his office to disrupt New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin’s investigation into Uribe and his associates. The indictment further alleges that Menendez influenced President Biden to nominate a U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey who Menendez believed could be swayed against prosecuting his associate Daibes.
Menendez has supported the nomination of U.S. Attorney Phillip Sellinger. Sellinger had previously acted as a fundraiser for Menendez’s campaign. However, Sellinger had recused himself from the Daibes prosecution, a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson told NBC News 4.
Menendez disclosed that his family had accepted gold bars in 2020. Daibes encountered bank fraud charges that could have netted him up to a decade in prison for lying about a nearly $2 million loan from Mariner’s Bank, where Daibes served as chairman.
Last year, however, New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to let Daibes plead guilty to one count and serve probation. They said Daibes had repaid the loan.
In April, Menendez established a legal defense fund to help pay for tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees relating to the federal criminal probe.
Menendez was previously indicted on federal bribery charges in 2016. That case related to a wealthy Florida eye doctor and longtime friend who gave generous donations to Menendez and allegedly received benefits in return.
However, the Department of Justice dropped those charges in 2018, and the new probe is unrelated to that case.
Though he will be charged, Menendez can continue serving in the Senate. He is up for re-election in 2024.
This is a developing story and will be updated. Fox News’ Joe Schoffstal contributed to this report.
