(UnitedVoice.com) – Federal authorities indicted Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) in September on a number of alleged crimes. The indictment against the senator led to calls for him to resign, many of which came from members of his own party. Federal prosecutors have now updated the details of his indictment.
On January 2, the DOJ issued a superseding indictment against Menendez, his wife, Nadine Menendez, and others. Prosecutors allege the Garden State’s senior senator used his power to help Fred Daibes, a New Jersey developer, secure financial backing from an investment fund run by a Qatari sheikh. In return, the sheikh allegedly gave the senator Formula 1 tickets for a relative, cash, and gold bars. According to prosecutors, Daibes also wanted the senator “to benefit the government of Qatar.”
The updated charges expand on the allegations already levied against the senator. In the first indictment, prosecutors claimed the senator’s wife, whom he married in 2020, introduced him to her friend Wael Hana. The friend was from Egypt and was a business associate of Daibes. Prosecutors claimed the Menendezes accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the men for years. Those allegedly included a luxury convertible, gold, cash, payments toward Mrs. Menendez’s home’s mortgage, furniture, and other items.
When the FBI searched the senator’s home in 2022, they allegedly found hundreds of thousands of dollars stuffed into envelopes and hidden in their clothing, closets, and other places. Agents also found more than $100,000 in gold bars in the couple’s home.
Menendez has denied the allegations against him and refused to step down from his position. The charges against him come years after he managed to beat another federal corruption case. That ended in a mistrial, and former President Donald Trump’s administration decided not to take the senator back to court. One juror in the case said 10 of the 12 jurors believed the prosecution had not proven its case.
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