From Halal Food to Gold Bars: The Details Inside the Menendez Indictment
The Justice Department says that Menendez used his position to benefit three New Jersey businessmen and the government of Egypt in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, luxury cars, and furnishings.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and wife Nadine Menendez have been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on three charges each: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.
The Justice Department says that Menendez used his position to benefit three New Jersey businessmen and the government of Egypt in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, luxury cars, and furnishings.
According to the Justice Department, businessman Wael Hana, originally from Egypt, introduced Menendez to Egyptian officials. Subsequently, Menendez supplied sensitive information to these officials about employees of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, ghostwrote a letter to other Senators on behalf of Egypt advocating for $300 million in relief, and told Egyptian officials that he would “approve or remove holds on foreign military financing and sales of military equipment to Egypt.”
Menendez allegedly took payment for these acts from IS EG Halal Certified, Inc., a company Hana operated with financial help from another businessman, Fred Daibes. IS EG Halal obtained a monopoly on export of halal food from the U.S. to Egypt, though the company had no experience with halal certification.
The Justice Department said Menendez received a Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible in exchange for interfering in two separate fraud prosecutions involving a business associate and an employee of a third businessman, Jose Uribe. The official that Menendez contacted refused to intervene, but the cases resulted in no jail time for the associate and no charges for the employee.
The Justice Department purported that Menendez also promised to disrupt a criminal case in which Daibes was accused of obtaining loans under false pretenses from a bank he founded. Once again, the official that Menendez spoke to declined to comply, but the case was “resolved with a plea agreement that provided for a probationary sentence.”
Hana, Urube, and Daibes have all been charged “with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.”
In a statement, Menendez accused prosecutors of misrepresenting “the normal work of a Congressional Office.”
In addition, he said that xenophobia motivated the indictment. “Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. Senator and serve with honor and distinction,” he alleged.
“Even worse, they see me as an obstacle in the way of their broader political goals,” he continued.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement, “My Office is firmly committed to rooting out corruption, without fear or favor, and without any regard to partisan politics. We will continue to do so.”
This afternoon, Menendez announced that he’s stepping down as Chairman of the Foreign Relations committee per Democratic Conference rules, which state that a member in a leadership position “must resign if charged with a felony.”
KnowThis:
Menendez is no stranger to accusations of corruption. In 2006, while he was a representative, he was “investigated for accepting rent from a nonprofit … while helping the group seek federal funding.” Launched by Chris Christie, the case was closed in 2011 when Christie became governor. In 2013, he was indicted for benefiting the business interests of an ophthalmologist in exchange for bribes, but a judge dropped all charges in 2018.
By KENADEE MANGUS