Federal prosecutors said gold bars connected to a search of Sen. Bob Menendez’s residence were found by Menendez, DN.J. and alleged payments to his wife in a large-scale bribery scheme.
Menendez and his wife NadineThey have not publicly disclosed the origin of the gold bars, although Menendez said in January that “there is no proof on giving or receiving cash and gold bars”.
In court documents filed late Monday, prosecutors allege Nadine Menendez told a jeweler a “false cover story,” claiming the gold came from her late mother. Prosecutors also wrote that Bob Menendez’s staff told the senator that the gold “came from Nadine Menendez’s late mother.” said.
The FBI said some of the gold bars were bribes from New Jersey developer Fred Daibes to Sen. Menendez. In return, Daibes allegedly wanted Menendez to pressure the US attorney’s office in New Jersey to go easy on him in connection with the bank fraud case. At least four gold bars linked to the search of Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home once belonged to Daibes, according to court documents.
In 2013, police recovered numerous gold bars that Daibes had reported stolen from his home, according to Bergen County prosecutors. The FBI said the serial numbers of two bars Daibes once reported stolen matched the numbers on two bars found during a search of the senator’s home. Two others matched the numbers on the photos of the two bars found in the search.
Daibes, Sen. Nadine Menendez and two co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to bribery charges. Prosecutors released the documents after lawyers for all five defendants filed motions to dismiss the charges and limit the evidence that can be used at trial.
In documents filed Monday, prosecutors also detailed about $500,000 in cash found in the senator’s home. Investigators said two bags of cash were found “on a large clothes rack … approximately $100,000 per bag.” Envelopes of cash were allegedly found in the senator’s jackets, which prosecutors said contained “four boots filled with cash, including one boot containing more than $5,000 and a $50 bill marked ‘5350’.”
The FBI said Menendez and his wife accepted cash, gold bars, Mercedes, mortgage payments and other valuables as part of the bribery scheme. Prosecutors said that in addition to trying to help Debes in his bank fraud case, Menendez also abused his position to help indicted bribe-taker Jose Uribe in connection with the New Jersey attorney general’s investigation.
The senator is also accused of receiving cash and gifts from a third party, Wael Hana, who allegedly sought help in securing a multimillion-dollar contract with the Egyptian government. Menendez was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until his indictment in September. Prosecutors allege he used his position to influence foreign aid deals with Egypt to help Hana.
In their latest filing, the feds said Hana “cheated” the senator by not paying all the bribes he promised and pocketing some of the money intended to pay for Nadine Menendez’s engagement ring. “Hana took money from a person who demanded a ‘bang’ from Menendez for a crime case and ‘tricked’ Menendez into buying Nadine Menendez a cheaper ring than he promised in exchange for his involvement in the crime case. .”
Bob and Nadine Menendez got married in 2020. The senator released a video of himself proposing marriage in front of the Taj Mahal.
Attorneys for Bob and Nadine Menendez, Daibes and Uribe did not respond to requests for comment. Hana’s attorney declined to comment.