Former Democratic Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Wednesday for taking bribes in exchange for favors that benefited a group of New Jersey businessmen, as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
Menendez was found guilty on all 16 charges against him, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent.
Federal prosecutors called for him to get 15 years due to his "naked greed" and the "rare gravity" of his crimes. "This case is the first ever in which a Senator has been convicted of a crime involving the abuse of a leadership position on a Senate committee," the prosecutors wrote to the judge in a memo this month, according to ABC News, in reference to Menendez chairing the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Menendez's lawyers sought leniency and urged the judge to consider a non-custodial sentence, saying "home detention and rigorous community service" would be enough. They called the prosecutor-recommended 15-year sentence "draconian—likely a life and death sentence for someone of Bob's age and condition."
Menendez, who pled not guilty, continues to maintain his innocence. "I have never been anything but a patriot of my country and for my country. I have never, ever been a foreign agent," he said after the verdict against him. He even attempted to run for re-election as an independent in the November election, but ended up dropping out as polls showed his chances of success were slim-to-none.
Menendez stepped down from his post in August after the jury determined he had accepted cash, gold bars and other perks from New Jersey businessmen in exchange for official favors that benefited them as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
Authorities found gold bars worth more than $100,000 and almost half a million dollars in cash during a 2022 search of Menendez's residence. The bars' serial numbers showed they had been previously owned by Fred Daibes, one of the New Jersey businessmen charged with bribing Menendez. Over ten envelopes of cash with thousands of dollars also had his fingerprints.
The defense gave different arguments to justify the proceedings of the assets. Regarding the gold bars, it said they were inherited by Nadine Menendez, part of a broader strategy aimed at pinning the actions on her and saying she kept him in the dark about gifts accepted while going through financial trouble. However, the claim was disputed by the prosecutors, who showed the bars' serial numbers pointed to Daibes.
As for the cash, the senator's older sister, Caridad González, echoed the defense's arguments by saying that keeping cash was a "Cuban thing" resulting from escaping the island in 1951. She said she also found a stash of cash in her brother's house in the 1980s.
"Daddy always said don't trust the banks," Gonzalez said, according to CBS News. "If you trust the banks, you never know what can happen, so you must always have money at home."
However, the prosecution leaned on the analysis of a forensic accountant to dispute the claim, showing that Menendez withdrew about $400 in cash every few weeks between 2008 and 2022, a figure amounting to about $150,000, much less than the $480,000 found.
Russell Richardson's analysis was meant to support the Cuba argument, but the cross-examination focused on the fact that cash seized at the Menendez house was in bundles of $10,000 and had Daibes' fingerprints in the envelopes. Richardson said he didn't find records of Menendez withdrawing $10,000 at once at any given point.
Menendez says he plans to appeal his conviction and will seek a pardon from President Trump.
Originally published on Latin Times
