After tearfully pleading with a prosecutor for forgiveness, former Democratic , New Jersey  , Sen.  , Bob Menendez , was sentenced to 11 years in prison Wednesday for , a brazen corruption scheme , that saw him work as a foreign agent for , Egypt , and distribute his immense political control for stockpiles of funds, gold bullion bars and other beautiful gifts.
At a packed reading, the long-standing senator and his attorney pleaded with the court not to sentence Menendez to prison for the rest of his life, claiming that despite the fact that he had been a” Gold Club Bob” for the past 50 years, he deserved mercy for his “tireless” function as a common servant.
” You were successful, powerful, you stood at the apex of our political system. You lost your way, and working for the public good turned out to be working for your good, the judge said, telling Menendez that corruption had fueled voter cynicism.
” Somewhere along the way, you became, I’m sorry to say, a corrupt politician”.
A tearful Menendez addressed the court in tears before the term was overturned, expressing his admiration for Stein’s accomplishments and his remarkable rise to power from humble beginnings. His two children,  , U. S.  , Rep.  , Rob Menendez, D-N. J., and , MSNBC , anchor , Alicia Menendez, were present in court.
” Judge, other than family, I have lost everything I ever cared about. For someone who spent his entire life in public service, every day I’m awake is a punishment”, Menendez said, going on to cite instances of his public service.
I ask you, Your Honor, to evaluate me in that situation and to temper your sword of justice with the wrath of a lifetime of service.
The ex-lawmaker, however, struck a markedly different tone outside, aligning himself with the Republican commander-in-chief by crying “witch hunt” and his tears turning to anger.
” Welcome to the , Southern District , of , New York, the Wild West of political prosecutions.  , President Trump , was right. This process is political, and it’s corrupted to the core. I hope , President Trump , cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system”, Menendez said.
A jury , found Menendez guilty in July , of taking almost half a million dollars in cash,$ 150, 000 worth of gold bars, a luxury convertible for his wife, flashy watches and Formula 1 tickets in exchange for abusing his position as chairman of the powerful , Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Menendez’s co-defendants,  , Wael Hana, 41, who ran a Halal certification business, and real estate developer , Fred Daibes, 67, were found guilty of showering him with bribes at the trial.
They were sentenced Wednesday to eight years and a month and seven years, respectively. Menendez’s wife,  , Nadine Menendez, accused of facilitating and benefiting from the bribery scheme, is set to go on trial in March. She has pleaded not guilty.  , New Jersey  , businessman , Jose Uribe, who was also charged in the case, took a plea deal in exchange for his cooperation and is expected to be sentenced in April.
In addition to the prison terms, Stein ordered Menendez to forfeit more than$ 922, 000, Hana to pay a$ 1.2 million fine and forfeit$ 125, 000, and Daibes to pay a$ 1.7 million fine.
Menendez resigned from office following his conviction and relinquished his position on the , Senate Foreign Relations Committee , soon , after his , September 2023 , indictment.
The bombshell case brought under former Manhattan , U. S.  , Attorney , Damian Williams  , was spurred after , FBI , agents searched Menendez and his wife ‘s , Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home in , June 2022 , and found over$ 100, 000 worth of gold bars and over$ 480, 000 in cash stuffed in closets, jackets emblazoned with Menendez’s name, and envelopes, some bearing Menendez and Daibes ‘ fingerprints.
Evidence from the nine-week trial revealed that the senator allegedly accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the beginning of 2018, the year Menendez started dating his ex-wife, until 2022.
They came in the form of cash and a luxury convertible from Uribe, 57, in exchange for coercing the highest levels of , New Jersey  , state law enforcement to kill a criminal investigation into Uribe and an associate, bribes from Daibes to influence a pending federal prosecution against him in , New Jersey, and bribes from Hana to pressure the , U. S. Department of Agriculture , to let Hana maintain a monopoly over , U. S.  , exports of Halal products to , Egypt.
Jurors heard Menendez additionally threw around his weight to enrich himself at the cost of the , U. S.  , by ghost-writing a letter on behalf of Egyptian officials to , U. S.  , senators urging the release of$ 300 million in aid and providing , Egypt , with highly sensitive information about people serving at the , U. S. Embassy , in , Cairo. Additionally, the jury was informed that he was using strings to benefit Qatar’s government in order to aid Daibes.
Prosecutors had requested Menendez , serve a minimum of 15 years prison time , for his conviction, the first of a senator for abusing their leadership on a , Senate , committee and the first of anyone for serving as a foreign agent while being a public official. A steep sentence, in their opinion, was necessary to deter other legislators from doing the same.
Ahead of sentencing, the feds called Menendez’s scheme one” of stunning brazenness, breadth and duration, resulting in exceptionally grave abuses of power at the highest levels of the legislative branch of , the United States , government”.
” Even leaving aside their historical rarity, the defendants ‘ crimes amount to an extraordinary attempt, at the highest levels of the legislative branch, to corrupt the nation’s core sovereign powers over foreign relations and law enforcement”, Assistant Manhattan , U. S.  , Attorney , Eli Mark , wrote to Stein in the government’s sentencing submission.
Menendez “fraudly promised to influence national security,” including the release of significant amounts of lethal military aid from this nation. He corruptly divulged, to a foreign government, sensitive nonpublic information that could put at risk , U. S.  , and foreign nationals serving at an embassy abroad”.
In court Wednesday,  , Adam Fee, Menendez’s lawyer, had asked the judge to weigh” the good and the bad” of Menendez’s history and impose no more than eight years in prison, citing his decades of public service before the bribery scheme.
Stein received 130 letters from people calling for the former senator to serve a lenient term, including clergymen, foreign dignitaries, and organizations for community service.
” The good outweighs the bad in the arc of Bob’s life”, Fee said. ” People are complicated. Many of us, including myself, would not be here today if our worst experiences defined us and overshadowed any other light we had projected onto the world.
Menendez “fell down” and made choices that “dearly” him, according to Fee, but the prosecutors sought an exaggerated sentence. He spoke about a “scrappy” young Menendez supporting his parents, Cuban immigrants, as a teen and his testimony in a bulletproof vest as a young adult at the corruption trial of , Union City  , Mayor , William Must.
He said a sentence above a decade meant the federal , Bureau of Prisons , would not send him to a minimum security prison, exposing him” to a dramatically higher risk of danger” as a high-profile inmate.
He is a good and decent man who has committed errors that he will regret and bear the consequences of for the rest of his life.
Stein ordered Menendez to report to the , Bureau of Prisons , by , June 6, saying he would allow him to attend his wife’s trial and support her in the coming months as she undergoes treatment for breast cancer.
Before imposing sentence, the judge said he was unable to explain why the veteran politician decided to lose his good name and reputation.
” Again, I don’t know what led you to this. Greed was certainly part of it”, Stein said. Hubris was a component of it. I don’t know. You’ll have to work that out for yourself over time.
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