By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York jury on Friday began deliberating in the corruption trial of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, who stands accused of selling his power in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes including gold bars and cash.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan argued the New Jersey Democrat sought to help Egypt secure billions of dollars in U.S. military assistance to help a businessman with ties to that country’s government. Prosecutors say the senator also tried to influence criminal investigations touching two other businessmen who bribed him.
Menendez, 70, has pleaded not guilty to 16 criminal counts including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction.
Defense attorneys argued his advocacy for businessmen in his state was normal activity for a senator, and sought to blame his wife Nadine Menendez, who prosecutors say was a go-between for bribes.
Regardless of the jury’s verdict, the case has likely ended the three-term senator’s political career. Menendez stepped down as chair of the Senate’s influential foreign relations committee upon being charged in September, but has resisted calls from fellow Democrats to resign.
He is running as an independent for re-election to his seat in November, but is considered a long shot.
Over nine weeks in Manhattan federal court, jurors handled the gold bars federal agents seized from the New Jersey home the senator shared with Nadine. They heard testimony from insurance broker Jose Uribe, who said he bought Nadine Menendez a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz for her husband’s help quashing a criminal probe into his associates. And an FBI agent told jurors she heard Nadine ask Egyptian officials at a steakhouse dinner, “What else can the love of my life do for you?”
“It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington,” prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said in his closing argument on Monday. “He also wanted to use it to pile up riches for himself and his wife.”
Menendez’s lawyers argued that for decades, the senator regularly withdrew cash from banks and stored it at his home. His older sister testified he picked up the habit from their parents, who fled from Cuba with cash their father had stored in a clock.
Defense lawyers noted the gold bars were found in Nadine Menendez’s closet. They contended the two lived largely separate lives and she kept her husband in the dark about her finances.
“The prosecutors have not come close to meeting their burden to show you that any of the gold or cash was given to Senator Menendez as a bribe,” defense lawyer Adam Fee said in his closing argument on Tuesday.
Nadine Menendez also has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to stand trial separately in August. Uribe has pleaded guilty to bribing Menendez. Two other businessmen who allegedly bribed the senator, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, are standing trial alongside him.
This corruption trial is the senator’s second. A bribery case against him in New Jersey ended in a mistrial in 2017.
Menendez could face decades in prison if convicted in the New York case, though any sentence would be determined by U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein at a later date based on a range of factors.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and David Gregorio)
