Senator Menendez Indicted Again, Accused of Taking Gold Bars, Luxury Cars as Bribes To Aid Egypt’s Halal Meat Business

Senator Menendez was indicted Friday on federal corruption charges by prosecutors at Manhattan, nearly six years after a trial on unrelated corruption charges that ended with a hung jury.The new indictment names Mr. Menendez along with his wife, Nadine Menendez; a New Jersey real estate developer, Fred Daibes, who recently pleaded guilty to bank fraud; and two businessmen, Wael Hana and Jose Uribe.Mr. Menendez stands accused of engaging in a “corrupt relationship” with Mr. Hana, in which authorities say the senator of New Jersey received bribes via his wife in order to influence policy in ways that benefited the government of Egypt.An Egyptian-American businessman, Mr. Hana sought influence with the Department of Agriculture to protect a monopoly granted to his company by Egypt to be the sole Halal certifier for imports from America, according to prosecutors.In response to the indictment, Mr. Menendez denied the allegations, saying, “I have been falsely accused before because I refused to back down to the powers that be, and the people of New Jersey were able to see through the smoke and mirrors and recognize that I was innocent.”“I have also stood steadfast against dictators around the globe — whether they be in Iran, Cuba, Turkey, or elsewhere — fighting against the forces of appeasement and standing with those who stand for freedom and democracy,” Mr. Menendez said.In the indictment, authorities laid out a scheme in which Ms. Menendez’s company, Strategic International Business Consultants, allegedly was used to receive bribes on behalf of the Menendezes.In one exchange recounted in the indictment, Ms. Menendez sent a text to her husband saying, “Seems like halal went through. It might be a fantastic 2019 all the way around,” referencing news that the monopoly would likely be granted.The indictment goes on to claim that Mr. Menendez, in meetings with Egyptian officials and Mr. Hana in 2019, discussed the Halal import monopoly, which the agriculture department then opposed.Just days later, Mr. Menendez allegedly called a high-level agriculture department official in order to pressure that official to drop the department’s opposition to the Halal monopoly.Mr. Menendez is also accused of using his “influence and power” to recommend the appointment of a U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey whom he felt could be influenced in order to disrupt a separate prosecution of Mr. Daibes, according to prosecutors.During a search of the senator’s home, investigators found more than $480,000 in cash, “much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe,” home furnishings that were provided by Mr. Hana and Daibes, a luxury car paid for by Mr. Uribe, and “over one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of gold bars in the home,” according to the indictment.The new charges, though unrelated, are an echo of charges Mr. Menendez faced in 2015 when he was indicted in New Jersey federal court on bribery charges, in which prosecutors alleged that the senator received bribes and favors from a friend and eye doctor, Salomon Melgen. That case ended in a mistrial in 2017, and Mr. Menendez was later acquitted of some of the charges he faced while the Department of Justice dismissed others, citing a Supreme Court case that raised the bar for prosecuting federal corruption charges. Mr. Melgen, who was convicted of Medicare fraud, was pardoned by President Trump in 2020.Mr. Menendez serves as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is a senior Democratic member of the Senate. He is up for re-election in 2024 and is facing challenges both from within the Democratic Party and from the GOP.

Senator Menendez Indicted Again, Accused of Taking Gold Bars, Luxury Cars as Bribes To Aid Egypt’s Halal Meat Business

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