(AFP) – A judge sentenced a powerful former US senator to 11 years in prison Wednesday, after he was convicted of corruption following the discovery of gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash at his home. Robert Menendez, a 71-year-old Democrat from New Jersey, was convicted of federal charges of extortion, obstruction of justice, and accepting bribes to perform favors for businessmen with connections to Egypt and Qatar. He said he would appeal.
“Somewhere along the way… you lost your way,” District Judge Sidney Stein said in announcing the sentence. “Working for the public good became working for your good.” Menendez, who had served as chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had vowed to appeal the verdict handed down in July 2024, and on Wednesday he asked for leniency from the judge ahead of his sentencing.
“I am going to ask you for mercy — not for me, but for Anthony,” a crying Menendez said, referring to his son who has autism. Ahead of the sentencing, the court received letters from acquaintances of Menendez testifying to his character. “Bob inspired many people, including me, with hope that it is possible to change the world,” said one, from author Donald Scarinci.
Menendez’s attorney, Adam Fee, said that “despite his decades of service, he is now known more widely as ‘gold bar Bob.'” The counts on which Menendez was convicted after less than three days of jury deliberations included conspiracy to commit bribery and acting as a foreign agent while a public official.
– ‘Egregious abuse’ –
Menendez said outside court following his conviction last year: “I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent.” On Wednesday, he vowed to appeal and called his prosecution a “witch hunt.” “President (Donald) Trump is right. This process is political and it’s corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores integrity to the system,” he said.
He was not immediately taken into custody following the hearing. In a raid on Menendez’s New Jersey home, FBI agents were said to have found nearly $500,000 in cash hidden around the house, as well as gold bars worth around $150,000 and a luxury Mercedes-Benz convertible.
His wife, Nadine Menendez, to whom defense lawyers sought to shift the blame, was charged but faces trial separately as she receives treatment for breast cancer. Menendez was convicted alongside two of the businessmen he helped — Egyptian-American Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, a real estate developer. They were both sentenced to jail terms Wednesday. A third businessman, insurance broker Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty to bribery charges in March and assisted investigators.
Menendez is said to have interfered in the nomination of New Jersey’s prosecutor in a bid to ensure that proceedings were dropped against Daibes and Uribe. He is also accused of accepting bribes to use his power and influence to enrich his co-conspirators and benefit the government of Egypt, including by helping Hana protect his monopoly on US exports of halal food products to the country.
Prosecutors had sought a jail term of 15 years while Menendez’s defense sought no more than eight years behind bars. Prosecutor Danielle Sassoon said in a statement, “the sentences imposed today result from an egregious abuse of power at the highest levels.” – Ana FERNÁNDEZ
© 2024 AFP
