As of January 29, 2025, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in jail for a big corruption bust. Bribery, foreign agent, and obstruction of justice were accused against the former senator.
“Egregious power abuse at the highest levels of the federal Legislative Branch led to today’s sentences. Robert Menendez was supposed to represent the US and New Jersey, but he helped his co-conspirators and a foreign government in exchange for cash, gold, and a fancy car, claimed Sassoon.
She said the sentences issued today convey a clear message that any level of government that corrupts foreign policy and the rule of law would be punished. “MENENDEZ, at the time the Indictment was unsealed, was the senior U.S. Senator from New Jersey and the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (“SFRC”),” said the DOJ.
After dating his now-wife Nadine Menendez, then Nadine Arslanian (“Nadine Menendez”), in 2018, Nadine introduced him to her longtime friend HANA, an Egyptian. HANA lived in New Jersey and was connected to Egyptian officials, the department said.
“MENENDEZ and Nadine Menendez agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of bribes between 2018 and 2022,” the paper stated. These bribes included gold, cash, a luxury convertible, mortgage payments, recompense for a low-or-no-show job, house furniture, and other valuables.
Their corruption was discovered by the FBI’s big home raid. “In June 2022, the FBI executed a court-authorized search warrant at the New Jersey home of MENENDEZ and Nadine Menendez,” the Press Release read. The FBI found various bribery scheme fruits throughout its search. The home contained $480,000 in cash, much of it in envelopes and stashed in clothing, closets, and a safe.
The DOJ reported that Egyptian foreign agents donated home furnishings, Uribe’s luxury vehicle was parked in the garage, and over $100,000 in gold bars were recovered in the property. In an attempt to cover up his misdeeds, Menendez was convicted of obstruction of justice.
