Federal prosecutors have alleged that gold bars linked to a search of Sen. Bob Menendez’s residence were payments to Menendez, D-N.J., and his wife in a wide-ranging bribery scheme.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine, have not commented publicly on the origin of the gold bars, though Menendez said in January that “there is no evidence of the giving or receiving of cash and gold bars.”
In court papers filed late Monday, however, prosecutors allege that Nadine Menendez told “a false cover story” to a jeweler, “claiming that the gold had come from her deceased mother.” The prosecutors also wrote that a staffer for Bob Menendez said the senator had explained that “the gold had come from Nadine Menendez’s deceased mother.”
The FBI has said some of the gold bars were bribe payments to Sen. Menendez from New Jersey developer Fred Daibes. In exchange, Daibes allegedly wanted Menendez to pressure the New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office to go easy on him in connection with a bank fraud case. At least four gold bars linked to a search of Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home once belonged to Daibes, according to court records.
In 2013, police recovered numerous gold bars that Daibes had reported stolen from his home, according to Bergen County prosecutors. The FBI said serial numbers on two of the bars Daibes once reported stolen match the numbers on two bars discovered in a search of the senator’s home. Two others matched the numbers on photos of two bars found in the search.
Daibes, the senator, Nadine Menendez and two co-defendants have all pleaded not guilty to bribery-related charges. Prosecutors filed the papers after lawyers for all five defendants filed motions to dismiss the charges and limit the evidence that could be used at trial.
In the papers filed Monday, prosecutors also provided more detail about the nearly $500,000 in cash found in the senator’s home. Investigators said two bags of cash were found “on top of a large rack of clothes hangers … approximately $100,000 per bag.” Envelopes of cash were allegedly found in the senator’s jackets, and prosecutors said there were “four boots, stuffed with cash, including one boot containing in excess of $5,000 in $50 bills, marked with a note stating ‘5350.’”
The FBI said Menendez and his wife accepted cash, gold bars, a Mercedes, mortgage payments and other items of value as part of the bribery scheme. In addition to allegedly trying to help Daibes with his bank fraud case, prosecutors said Menendez also abused his position to try to help accused bribe-giver Jose Uribe in connection with a New Jersey state attorney general’s investigation.
The senator is also accused of accepting cash and gifts from a third man, Wael Hana, who allegedly wanted help securing a contract with the Egyptian government worth millions. Menendez was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until his indictment in September. Prosecutors allege he used his position to influence foreign aid deals with Egypt to help Hana.
In their latest filing, the feds said Hana “swindled” the senator by not paying him all the bribe money he promised and by pocketing some of the money meant to pay for Nadine Menendez’s engagement ring. “Hana received money from an individual whose criminal case needed a ‘push’ from Menendez as part of a quid pro quo, and ‘swindled’ Menendez by buying Nadine Menendez a less expensive ring than promised in exchange for Menendez’ intervention in the criminal case.”
Bob and Nadine Menendez married in 2020. The senator posted video of himself proposing in front of the Taj Mahal.
Attorneys for Bob and Nadine Menendez, Daibes and Uribe did not respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Hana declined to comment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
