Sen. Menendez Indicted on Federal Bribery Charges

On Sept. 22, the Justice Department announced that Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has been indicted for conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. He is indicted for these charges alongside his wife Nadine Menendez and three New Jersey businessmen, Weal Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes. The defendants were charged with using Sen. Menendez’s “power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect and enrich Hana, Uribe, and Daibes, and benefit the Arab Republic of Egypt” and working to “deprive the public of its intangible right to [Sen. Menedez’s] honest services as a U.S. Senator and the Chairman and Ranking Member of the [Senate Foreign Relations Committee].”

Sen. Menendez and Nadine Menendez are additionally charged with a third count of conspiracy to commit extortion. 

According to the indictment, Hana and Nadine Menendez arranged multiple meetings where Sen. Menendez met Egyptian military and government officials, who raised “requests related to foreign military sales and foreign military financing.” Following one meeting, the indictment alleges that Sen. Menendez texted Nadine Menendez “Tell Will [HANA] I am going to sign off this sale to Egypt today.” 

The indictment alleges that “[o]ver $480,000 in cash—much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe—was discovered in the home,” along with “over one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of gold bars.”

Today’s indictment is Menendez’s second indictment on corruption charges in the last 10 years—though he was acquitted of the first charges in 2018. 

Read the indictment here or below: