Disgraced former US Senator Bob Menendez sentenced to 11 years in prison in corruption case
Once a three-term senator who chaired the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez sat before a federal judge in downtown Manhattan on Wednesday, flanked by lawyers and at times crying, to receive his punishment after becoming the first senator to ever be convicted of acting as a foreign agent.
Menendez, 71, accepted bribes – in the form of lavish gifts – from three New Jersey businessmen who sought his help in meddling in state and federal criminal investigations and securing lucrative deals with officials from Egypt and Qatar.
'You were successful, powerful, you stood at the apex of our political system. Somewhere along the way, and I don't know when it was, you lost your way and working for the public good became working for your good,' District Judge Sidney Stein told Menendez.
Before sentencing, the former US senator tearfully begged the judge for consideration of his long public service.
"Your honor, I am far from a perfect man. I have made more than my share of mistakes and bad decisions. I've done far more good than bad. I ask you, your honor, to judge me in that context,' Menendez said between tears.
He recounted various times he helped others such as helping a family secure a new kidney for a family member.
Menendez cried while recounting how he dedicated himself to public service so much that he missed several events in his two children's lives. He struggled to describe the pain of missing events in his grandchildren's lives if he was given a long sentence.
While Judge Stein agreed Menendez had done much good in his life, he reminded the former senator that his bad actions could not go unpunished.
'The public cannot be led to believe that you can get away with bribery,' Judge Stein said.
Roughly six months ago, a jury found Menendez guilty on 16 counts including bribery, extortion, corruption, obstruction of justice, and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt – what prosecutors described as 'the most serious' conduct that a senator has been convicted for 'in the history of the republic.'
When federal agents descended upon Menendez's home in 2022 and 2023 they made a startling discovery.
More than $100k worth of gold bars, one found in a Ziploc bag, stuffed in a closet, a Mercedez-Benz convertible parked in the driveway, and more than $480,000 in cash stuffed into coat jacket pockets, shoes and bags.
Those, in addition to jewelry and other gifts, were all bribes that Menendez and his wife Nadine Menendez accepted from two co-defendants, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, as well as a former co-defendant who took a plea deal, Jose Uribe.
Federal prosecutors asked Judge Stein to sentence Menendez to 15 years in prison and impose a $2.8 million fine and more than $920,000 in restitution.
The former senator's attorneys asked the judge for leniency, asking him to consider home detention and 'rigorous community service' instead.
Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman with a halal-meat certifying business, connected Menendez with Egyptian intelligence officials. With Menendez's help, Hana secured a lucrative contract with U.S. officials to be the exclusive certifier of halal meat to Egypt.
Menendez pushed the U.S. to give Egypt millions in military aid and sent Egyptian officials nonpublic information.
Hana was sentenced to roughly eight years in prison.
Daibes, a real-estate developer, gave Menendez gold and cash in exchange for his help interfering with a criminal investigation and securing investors in a development project. Daibes introduced Menendez to a Qatari investor who was also a member of the Qatari royal family.
Menendez later supported a Senate resolution praising Qatar.
Daibes was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday.
Uribe, an insurance executive, pleaded guilty telling prosecutors he gave Menendez and his wife a Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for Menendez to interfere in a state fraud investigation. Menendez then spoke directly with the New Jersey attorney general about the case.
Uribe will be sentenced in April.
The senator's wife allegedly played a pivotal role in the scheme, according to Menendez's lawyers who sought to push the blame on Nadine for pressuring Menendez to accept the lavish gifts.
Nadine is expected to stand trial in March. Her trial was severed from her husband's last year after she revealed she is battling breast cancer.
From the moment Menendez was indicted until sentencing, he has maintained his innocence and vowed to appeal the conviction.
Even while facing calls to resign from fellow Democratic members of Congress, Menendez refused to let go of his power. He initially teased running for re-election in the state, this time as an independent candidate. However, after his conviction Menendez resigned.
'I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country,' Menendez said after the verdict. 'The decision rendered by the jury today would put at risk every member of the United States Senate in terms of what they think a foreign agent would be.'
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