Former Sen. Bob Menendez is set to be sentenced Wednesday in New York in a sweeping federal corruption case, where the 71-year-old former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will seek to avoid a lengthy prison term.
Prosecutors have recommended that the New Jersey Democrat receive at least 15 years in prison, which his lawyers argued is “vindictive and cruel” in part because it would endanger him by making him ineligible for a minimum-security prison.
“As a result of his position in government, the notoriety associated with his criminal investigation and trial, and the public reporting of gold bars and cash seized from his home, Senator Menendez is at a far greater risk than the typical inmate — even the typical well-known inmate — of violence, extortion, and harassment in prison,” the former senator’s attorneys wrote in a court filing.
