Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was found guilty Tuesday on all charges in a sweeping corruption case that accused him of taking bribes from New Jersey businessmen, a staggering downfall for the once-powerful lawmaker who dodged a corruption conviction years ago.
The federal jurors in Manhattan were not swayed by defense arguments that the government showed no direct evidence Menendez discussed a bribe, and that there were other explanations for the gold bars and cash stockpile that authorities found at the New Jersey residence the senator shared with his wife.
Menendez, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who has served as a member of Congress for more than three decades, was found guilty on 16 counts, including bribery, extortion and acting as a foreign agent.
The guilty verdict, reported by several news outlets at the federal courthouse in New York City, injects uncertainty about Menendez’s future in the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim grip and there are fewer than four months until the November general election.
Although prominent Democrats called for Menendez to resign, he showed no signs of stepping down from the Senate and told reporters he was “deeply disappointed” by the jury’s decision and will appeal.
“I have every faith that the law and the facts [will] not sustain that decision and that we will be successful upon appeal,” Menendez said. “I have never violated my public oath. I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country.”
After the jury decision Tuesday, an attorney for Menendez said there are grave appellate problems with the case and the verdict, and said they will pursue all appellate avenues “aggressively.”
Menendez is expected to be sentenced in October, according to news reports.
The historic corruption trial, which played out at a federal courthouse in Manhattan, took about two months and featured a complex narrative that involved gold bars, behind-the-scenes maneuverings from Menendez and details about the senator’s personal life with his wife, Nadine.
Prosecutors painted Menendez as a corrupt politician motivated by greed who put his “power up for sale.”
“The buck stops here. The thousands on thousands of bucks stop here,” federal prosecutor Paul Monteleoni told jurors during closing arguments. “It’s time to hold him responsible.”
Prosecutors accused the senator and his wife of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, which included cash, gold bars and a luxury vehicle. The federal judge overseeing the case rescheduled Nadine Menendez’s trial after a disclosure that she was diagnosed with a “serious medical condition.”
The prosecution alleged that Menendez, in exchange for bribes, promised to approve military aid to Egypt, to pressure the New Jersey attorney general to disrupt a criminal investigation, and to recommend someone for a U.S. attorney post who he thought he could influence to affect a federal case against a real estate developer, among other acts.
Across seven weeks during the government’s case, the jury heard from FBI employees, government officials and the chief counsel and staff director of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics.
Jurors also heard from an insurance broker who testified that he bribed the senator in an attempt to influence state-level investigations to benefit people close to him.
An FBI agent outlined to the jury how federal authorities found gold bars and about $486,000 in cash during a 2022 search of a New Jersey residence that the senator shared with his wife.
Adam Fee, a lawyer for Menendez, slammed the prosecution’s case during closing arguments, telling the jury they were being asked to fill in gaps that were not based on evidence.
The prosecution put forward a “story” that was built on inferences instead of hard evidence, he argued.
“Don’t fall into the trap of buying a story. A forceful, well-told, long, long story. Resist that,” Fee said as he urged the jury to acquit the New Jersey Democrat of all counts.
The guilty verdict is a win for the Justice Department, which brought charges against the New Jersey Democrat in 2015 in a separate case. A jury was unable to reach a verdict in 2017, the judge acquitted the senator in January 2018 on the most serious charges and the Justice Department later dropped the rest.
In the most recent case, Menendez was tried alongside real estate developer Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, who was friends with Menendez’s wife, according to the indictment.
A third businessman, the insurance broker Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty in the case earlier this year and testified at trial.
Uribe told jurors that he agreed to provide a vehicle for Menendez’s wife in order to get “the power and influence” of Menendez.
The goal, Uribe testified, was to halt an ongoing investigation that could spell trouble for a business associate of his and secure a “better resolution” for a separate associate in a criminal matter.
Uribe testified he met with Menendez at the senator’s New Jersey residence and the lawmaker asked him to write down the names of the relevant parties. But Uribe also testified he never discussed the car with Menendez.
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