Former Senator Bob Menendez received an 11-year prison sentence for accepting bribes in the form of gold bars and cash, as well as acting as an agent for Egypt. The case involved Menendez's alleged efforts to benefit Egyptian officials in exchange for lavish gifts and favors.
Former US senator Bob Menendez has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes of gold and cash and acting as an agent of Egypt -- crimes his own lawyer said earned him the nickname “Gold Bar Bob”. US District Judge Sidney H. Stein in Manhattan announced the sentence on Wednesday after Menendez tearfully addressed the judge, saying he’d lost everything he cared about, except for his family.
Menendez was found guilty of receiving bribes from Egyptian officials and his quest to aid three men who showered him with lucrative gifts. FBI agents who searched his California home found US$480,000 ($770,000) in cash, some of it stuffed inside boots and the pockets of clothing hung in the couple's closets.Prosecutors said Menendez had 'put his high office up for sale in exchange for this hoard of bribes', including by serving Egypt's interests as he worked to protect a meat certification monopoly one businessman had established with the Egyptian government. Menendez also provided Egyptian officials with information about staff at the US Embassy in Cairo and ghostwrote a letter to fellow senators encouraging them to lift a hold on $300 million in military aid to Egypt. Prosecutors said for other bribes, Menendez attempted to persuade a federal prosecutor in New Jersey to go easy on Fred Daibes, a politically influential real estate developer accused of bank fraud. And at the trial, another businessman, Jose Uribe, testified that he helped Nadine Menendez get a Mercedes-Benz convertible after the senator sought to pressure state prosecutors to drop criminal probes of his associates. The White House had earlier announced it would pause federal grants and loans. Menendez says he is innocent of any crime, arguing his interactions with Egyptian officials were normal for the head of the Foreign Relations Committee, and that he always put American interests first. 'Unsurprisingly, Senator Menendez's conviction has rendered him a national punchline and stripped him of every conceivable personal, professional, and financial benefit,' his lawyers in a pre-sentencing submission. 'Bob is now 71, with his long-built reputation in tatters. He has suffered financial and professional ruin.
Bob Menendez Bribery US Senate Egyptian Officials Prison Sentence
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