This politician is in the thick of scandal. There’s no coming back from this.
And a former Democrat Senator was sent to prison for this horrific crime.
Bob Menendez, the former US senator from New Jersey, shed tears as he pleaded for leniency in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday, moments before being sentenced to 11 years in prison.
The 71-year-old Democrat was convicted of using his influential position for personal gain, accepting gold bars, cash, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible among other bribes.
“Your honor, you have before you a chastened man,” Menendez said, his voice cracking with emotion. “I have dedicated my entire life to the service of others,” he added, while crying.
“I am far from a perfect man, but I believe in my half-century of public service, I have done more good than bad.”
Menendez, once the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, resigned last August after a jury found him guilty of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for using his position to protect and benefit foreign businesses and governments.
Federal Judge Sidney Stein, addressing the convicted senator, told him, “Somewhere along the way, you became, I’m sorry to say, a corrupt politician.”
Menendez’s actions, spanning from 2018 to 2022, included favors for Egypt and Qatar, as well as business associates like Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who provided him and his wife, Nadine, with gifts, including cash, luxury items, and payments to a fake consulting firm.
Evidence presented during the case detailed how Menendez received gold bars and nearly half a million dollars in cash, some hidden in work boots and his Senate jacket.
Menendez did not testify during the trial, but his sister tried to explain away the vast sums of cash discovered in their home, claiming it was a result of his Cuban heritage and his distrust of banks. “It’s a Cuban thing,” Caridad Gonzalez said.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of at least 15 years, citing that Menendez had violated his oath by accepting bribes and acting as a “foreign agent” while in office.
“Menendez, who swore an oath to represent the United States and the State of New Jersey, instead put his high office up for sale in exchange for this hoard of bribes,” the prosecution said.
His defense attorneys argued that Menendez had already suffered significant personal and professional losses and asked for a sentence of less than two years. They emphasized that the guilty verdict had already turned him into a “national punchline.”
The trial revealed a web of corruption, with Menendez securing favors for businessmen and foreign entities, including pushing for military aid to Egypt and protecting a halal meat export monopoly for Hana, despite his lack of experience in the field.
Menendez was also accused of intervening in legal cases to benefit his associates, including a federal bank fraud case involving his friend Daibes.
Menendez’s past convictions were brought up during the trial; in 2017, he faced federal corruption charges related to lavish gifts from a Florida doctor, but that case ended in a mistrial. Despite his conviction, Menendez maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.
During the trial, his lawyers defended him, claiming that he was simply “doing his job” by helping constituents and participating in diplomacy. They also attempted to shift blame for the gold bars onto his wife, asserting that it was a cultural tradition for Lebanese families to give such gifts. However, the prosecution countered, arguing that Menendez was the one in control.
“He’s not a puppet having his strings pulled by someone he summons with a bell,” prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said, referencing a moment in which Menendez called for his wife with the phrase “mon amour,” after ringing a bell to summon her.
Menendez’s conviction is a stark reminder of the risks of corruption in politics, and his sentence sends a clear message about the consequences of betraying the public trust for personal gain.
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