A jury in New York City has been informed that they will start deliberating the criminal allegations against Senator Bob Menendez on Friday, following receiving instructions on the relevant laws. The jury, which witnessed evidence over a two-month period and listened to closing arguments for a week at Manhattan federal court, had Judge Sidney H. Stein provide them with instructions post 4 p.m.
According to prosecutors, the Democratic senator allegedly received nearly $150,000 in gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from three businessmen in New Jersey between 2018 and 2022. The accusation is that he used his position as a senator corruptly to benefit these individuals. Menendez, aged 70, has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, one of which claims he acted as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt.
Menendez expressed his anticipation for the jury to begin reviewing the case the next day as he exited the courthouse and stepped into a waiting car. Alongside two businessmen, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, who also pleaded not guilty, the New Jersey senator is facing trial. One of the businessmen, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and testified against the others.
During the closing arguments that spanned four days, attorneys provided their perspectives on the testimony and numerous exhibits including pictures of gold bars and stacks of $100 bills found during an FBI raid at the Menendez residence in 2022. The prosecution claimed that the gold, cash, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible in the garage were all from bribes.
Defense lawyers contended that the gold was part of valuables inherited by Nadine Menendez from her family, while the cash was predominantly from Menendez’s practice of storing cash at home after his family fled Cuba in 1951. Regarding the cash found in the senator’s jackets, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal dismissed the defense’s assertions, saying it was implausible that it belonged to Menendez’s wife.
Richenthal additionally claimed that Menendez assisted Egyptian officials in obtaining sensitive information about U.S. embassy employees in Egypt, allegedly putting Egypt’s interests above those of the United States. Menendez’s lawyer, Adam Fee, highlighted Nadine Menendez’s history of keeping cash at home due to living outside the traditional banking system after her family faced upheaval that led them to lose bank accounts and property.
Fee informed the jurors that details about U.S. embassy staff in Egypt were publicly available and reiterated that Menendez’s actions were within the scope of his duties as the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a role he relinquished after the charges were made public. He emphasized that Menendez’s engagements in diplomacy should not be equated to conversing with a malevolent character like Darth Vader.
