U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez arrives for a briefing on Ukraine at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 20.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
U.S. Senator Bob Menendez was charged Friday with secretly aiding the authoritarian regime of Egypt and trying to thwart the criminal prosecution of a friend in exchange for gold bars and cash as prosecutors unsealed a corruption indictment that accuses him of using his foreign affairs influence for personal gain.
The indictment, the second in eight years against the powerful 69-year-old New Jersey Democrat, alleges an illegal commingling of Mr. Menendez’s professional obligations as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to advance U.S. priorities and his private interests in cultivating relationships with wealthy businessmen.
The indictment – coming years after an earlier criminal case against Mr. Menendez ended with a deadlocked jury – also charges the senator’s wife and three New Jersey businessmen who authorities say showered the couple with money, gold and a luxury car in exchange for his actions on their behalf.
Mr. Menendez is also accused of trying to derail the criminal case against one of the businessmen by pushing to install Philip R. Sellinger as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey because Mr. Menendez believed he could influence Mr. Sellinger. Prosecutors say he also tried to use his position of power to try to meddle in a separate investigation by the New Jersey Attorney-General’s office.
Authorities found more than $100,00 worth of gold bars in Mr. Menendez’s home, and US$480,000 in cash – much of it hidden in closets, clothing and a safe, prosecutors say. Photos included in the indictment show cash that was stuffed in envelopes found in jackets bearing Mr. Menendez’s name. Authorities found a Google search by Mr. Menendez for “how much is one kilo of gold worth” and DNA of one his co-defendants on an envelope in Mr. Menendez’s home filled with thousands of dollars of cash, they said.
Prosecutors allege Mr. Menendez took repeated actions to benefit Egypt despite U.S. government misgivings over the country’s human rights record that in recent years has prompted Congress to impose restrictions on aid. His steps include ghost-writing a letter to fellow senators encouraging them to lift a hold on US$300-million in aid to Egypt as well as transmitting non-public information to Egyptian officials about military issues, the indictment says.
Mr. Menendez in an e-mailed statement accused prosecutors of misrepresenting “the normal work of a congressional office.”
“For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave,” Mr. Menendez said. “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.”
He said he has been falsely accused of accepting bribes and “will not be distracted” from work in the Senate.
David Schertler, a lawyer for Mr. Menendez’s wife, Nadine, said she “denies any criminal conduct and will vigorously contest these charges in court.”
Mr. Menendez appears to be the first sitting senator in U.S. history to have been indicted on two unrelated criminal matters, according to the Senate Historical Office. He faces re-election next year in a bid to extend his three-decade career in Washington as Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate.
Egypt has long been a top recipient of U.S. government aid – more than US$1-billion a year – thanks to overriding American national security interests in the region, but the relationship has been tested by concerns over human rights abuses in the country.
As chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Menendez has influence on executive branch decisions on military spending and aid to foreign countries including Egypt as well as the ability to recommend “holds” on financing that the State Department historically respects.
Prosecutors allege Mr. Menendez and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from three business associates, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes. He used his influence to push to nominate Mr. Sellinger as U.S. Attorney because he believed he could influence Mr. Sellinger to protect Mr. Daibes, a long-time friend and prominent New Jersey developer who faced criminal prosecution, they said. Mr. Sellinger is not accused of any wrongdoing.
The White House declined to comment on the indictment, including on Mr. Biden’s nomination of Mr. Sellinger, and referred all questions to the Justice Department.
Requests for comment from lawyers for Mr. Daibes, Mr. Hana and Mr. Uribe were not immediately returned.
In April, 2020, shortly after meeting with an Egyptian official, authorities allege, Mr. Menendez lobbied then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo to increase American engagement in stalled negotiations involving Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to build a dam over the Nile River, a key foreign policy issue for Egypt.
Separately, after Mr. Menendez called a government official about an investigation of a Uribe associate, Mr. Uribe and Mr. Hana worked to provide the senator’s wife with a Mercedes-Benz convertible. The indictment says that after the transaction 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. (edited)
Now that he is indicted, Mr. Menendez will have to step down as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, according to rules for the Senate Democratic caucus. It is unclear whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will also call on him to leave the committee or resign from his seat.
The first time Mr. Menendez was indicted, he had been accused of using his political influence to help a Florida eye doctor who had lavished him with gifts and campaign contributions. Mr. Menendez was accused of pressuring government officials to resolve a Medicare billing dispute in favour of a friend – Dr. Salomon Melgen – securing visas for the doctor’s girlfriends and helping protect a contract the doctor had to provide port-screening equipment to the Dominican Republic.
Mr. Menendez has always maintained his innocence, and prosecutors dropped the case after a jury deadlocked in November, 2017, on charges including bribery, fraud and conspiracy, and a judge dismissed some counts.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Mr. Menendez has held public office continuously since 1986, when he was elected mayor of Union City, N.J. He was a state legislator and spent 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2006, Governor Jon Corzine appointed Mr. Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated when he became governor.
The new charges follow a years-long investigation that examined, among other things, the dealings of a New Jersey businessman – a friend of Mr. Menendez’s wife – who secured sole authorization from the Egyptian government to certify that meat imported into that country meets Islamic dietary requirements. Investigators also asked questions about the Menendez family’s interactions with a New Jersey developer.
Mr. Menendez first publicly disclosed that he was the subject of a new federal investigation last October.
In 2019, federal agents seized electronic devices and records from the offices of IS EG Halal, a New Jersey company that had been named by the Egyptian government as the sole company to certify that imported meat met religious requirements.
The designation surprised U.S. agriculture officials. Previously, several other companies had been doing that certification, but they were dismissed by Egyptian agriculture officials in favour of IS EG Halal, which had no previous experience in the field.
The switch happened the same year Mr. Menendez became engaged to his wife, an acquaintance of the new halal certification company’s owner, Mr. Hana, of Edgewater, N.J.
Records show his now wife, 56, was battling foreclosure on her Bergen County property in 2018. When she and Mr. Menendez got engaged it began a period of financial turnaround for Nadine Menendez.
Within weeks of their engagement, she incorporated a business, Strategic International Business Consultants LLC, according to state records. Her foreclosure case was dismissed soon after. The following year, her assets included gold bars valued between US$100,000 to US$250,000, according to a Senate disclosure form amended by Mr. Menendez in March of 2022.
Between April and June of 2022, the couple cashed out at least part of their precious metal holdings, forms show, selling between US$200,000 and US$400,000 worth of gold bars, while keeping at least US$250,000 worth of them.