Democrat Senator Bob Menendez and his wife are indicted for ‘accepting $400,000 in gold
Democratic Senator Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian Menendez have been indicted by a federal grand jury over corruption allegations in an investigation that focused on a luxury car, $400,000 in gold bars and an apartment allegedly received by Menendez and his wife.
The indictment claims the couple had an improper relationship with three New Jersey businessmen: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, who allegedly paid the couple in exchange for Menendez to use his influence in Washington D.C. to their benefit.
The couple face three criminal counts each: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.
The probe also looked at other bribes allegedly paid to the couple. ‘Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value,’ the indictment said.
A June 2022 raid on their New Jersey home found ‘over $480,000 in cash – much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe,’ the indictment notes, addding Nadine had over $70,000 in a safe deposit box.
It also found two one-kilogram gold bars and eleven one-ounce gold bars.
Senator Bob Menendez, 69, and wife Nadine, 56 in Italy earlier this month
Gold bars pictured in the indictment
The indictment alleges that Menendez tried to disrupt a federal criminal prosecution of Fred Daibes in exchange for the money and other items of value. Daibes is an old friend of Menendez, has fundraised for his Senate campaign, and and allegedly has ties to the Genovese mob family.
The indictment charges Menendez ‘promised to and did use his influence and power’ to pressure President Joe Biden to nominate a U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey who Menendez ‘believed could be influenced by Menendez with respect to the federal criminal prosecution of Fred Daibes.’
Menendez recommneded and Biden later nominated Phillip Sellinger as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, the top federal prosecutor in the state.
New Jersey authorities have tracked high-ranking mobsters meeting with Daibes repeatedly over the last decade, the Daily Beast reported.
Daibes provided the couple with gold bars and envelopes of cash, the indictment states.
‘Multiple gold bars provided by Daibes were found during the court-authorized June 2022 search; of the couple’s home, the indictment states. It also says the senator performed a web search for ‘how much is one kilo of gold worth’ and that the envelopes of cash had the fingerprints of Daibes and his driver.
The indictment also charges the senator with providing ‘sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.’
Menendez has denied all the charges.
Cash was found in envelopes during a June 2022 raid of Menendez home
The luxury Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible worth more than $60,000
Authorities found two one-kilogram gold bars and eleven one-ounce gold bars in Menendez’s home during a June 2022 search
$486,461 in U.S. currency was seized from the couple’s home, per the indictment
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., right, and his wife Nadine Arslanian – the couple married in 2020
The investigation also focused on 40-year-old New Jersey businessman, Wael Hana, who has known Nadine since before she started dating Menendez.
Hana, who is originally from Egypt, operated the company IS EG Halal in New Jersey and it soon became the sole entity authorized to certify that any halal food product imported into Egypt from anywhere in the world had been prepared according to Islamic law.
According to the indictment, Menendez ‘improperly advised and pressured an official at the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of protecting a business monopoly granted to Hana by Egypt and used in part to fund the bribes being paid to Menendez through Nadine Menendez.’
The designation of IS EG Halal surprised U.S. agriculture officials. Previously, several other companies had been doing that certification, but they were dismissed by Egyptian agriculture officials in favor of IS EG Halal, which had no previous experience in the field.
The indictment charges Menendez with using the power of his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to influence the State Department regarding policy in Egypt. And with sending Nadine ‘highly sensitive’ about Egypt that he got in Senate briefings that she, in turn, gave to Hana.
Now that he is indicted, Menendez will have to step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Rules for the Senate Democratic caucus say that any member who is charged with a felony must step aside from a leadership position.
Hana allegedly promised money to Nadine via a no-show job with his company. And, after months of nonpayment, she complained about not receiving the promised funds.
The indictment includes a text from Nadine to a friend: ‘I have been so upset all morning. [Hana] left for Egypt yesterday supposedly and now thinks he’s king of the world and has both countries wrapped around his pinky. I really hope they replace him.’
Records show Arslanian was battling foreclosure on her Bergen County property in 2018. When she and Menendez got engaged, it began a period of financial turnaround for her.
Within weeks of their engagement, she incorporated a business, Strategic International Business Consultants LLC, according to state records. Her foreclosure case was dismissed soon after. The following year, her assets included gold bars valued between $100,000 to $250,000, according to a Senate disclosure form amended by Menendez in March of 2022.
Between April and June of 2022, the couple sold between $200,000 and $400,000 worth of gold bars, while keeping at least $250,000 worth of them.
Businessman Wael Hana (center) is one of the people who allegedly bribed Menendez
Fred Daibes, Chairman and CEO of Daibes Enterprises, in his Edgewater office
Menendez and Nadine with Hana
Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife Nadine Arslanian arrive for a state dinner in honor of French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House in December 2022
Businessman Jose Uribe allegedly bought Menendez and Nadine the luxury vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible worth more than $60,000.
In exchange, Menendez ‘agreed and sought to interfere in a New Jersey state criminal prosecution of an associate of Uribe,’ the indictment states.
This is the second time Menendez faces a corruption charge. A 2015 case ended in mistrail after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts and a judge acquitted him on some charges.
Menendez is running for re-election for his New Jersey Senate seat and already facing at least one Democratic challenger in the primary.
If Menendez were to step down before the end of his term, New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Philip Murphy, would appoint a successor.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez has held public office continuously since 1986, when he was elected mayor of Union City, New Jersey. He was a state legislator and spent 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2006, Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated when he became governor.