Gold bars, basement carpeting and more. Here’s what prosecutors say bought off a US senator

#1:Gold bars, basement carpeting and more. Here’s what prosecutors say bought off a US senator

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey faces his second, distinct bribery and corruption trial in seven years starting Monday.

This new case is a complicated affair involving multiple gold bars, envelopes of cash, a Mercedes and a lot more that, prosecutors say, the powerful former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his new wife (they got married during the alleged bribery scheme) obtained in exchange for helping a halal meat monopoly, granting favors for people from Egypt and Qatar and trying to influence a New Jersey prosecution.

Menendez, who has until June to announce if he’s running for reelection, has pleaded not guilty and denied all of the charges. He told CNN’s Manu Raju on Capitol Hill last week, “I am looking forward to proving my innocence.”

Also pleading not guilty and denying wrongdoing are his wife Nadine, who is also a named as a defendant, and two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who have ties to Egypt and Qatar, respectively. Another man, New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe, on the other hand, has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Here’s what prosecutors say the senator and his wife got:
Gold bars

Prosecutors say Hana and Daibes gave Menendez and his wife gold bars, which were seized by the FBI from the Menendez residence. After returning from a trip to Egypt and getting a ride home from the airport from Daibes’ driver, prosecutors say Menendez searched online for the price of a gold bar.

Envelopes full of cash

The indictment includes photos of piles of cash next to envelopes spread across jackets on which the senator’s name is embroidered. There are piles of $20 bills and $50 bills in one photo and $100 bills in another photo.

They also found cash in closets, a safe and Nadine Menendez’s safety deposit box. Some of the envelopes, according to prosecutors, bore fingerprints or DNA belonging to Daibes or his driver.

Total cash discovered: More than $480,000 in the home and more than $70,000 in the safety deposit box.

Later court filings that added charges in the case are more specific, describing bags full of cash being found on top of hangers in the senator’s basement and stuffed into boots in the closet.
Convertible Mercedes

The 2019 vehicle, which prosecutors value at more than $60,000, was parked in the driveway at the Menendez home when it was raided.

The indictment describes Nadine Menendez obtaining $15,000 in cash from Uribe in a parking lot the day before she picked the vehicle up and put $15,000 as a down payment. Uribe is alleged to have then hid his monthly financing payments for the vehicle.