Sen. Bob Menendez, his wife and two other defendants pleaded not guilty today in federal court in Manhattan on bribery and corruption charges.
In addition to Menendez and his wife, Nadine, the other defendants in court on Wednesday were Fred Daibes, a real estate developer, and Jose Uribe, who works in trucking and insurance.
Another New Jersey businessman implicated in the alleged scheme – Wael Hana, the owner of a halal meat certification business – was arrested upon returning to the U.S. from Egypt on Tuesday morning and arraigned. He pleaded guilty, was released on $5 million personal bond and must wear a GPS monitoring device.
All five defendants are accused of one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, which under federal law is defined as a scheme to defraud another of the intangible right to honest services through bribery or kickbacks. The senator and his wife are also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right, a federal law that makes it illegal for public officials to accept, or even agree to accept, a payment to which they are not entitled.
The New Jersey senator is accused of conspiring with his wife and three businessmen to accept money, gold, a Mercedes Benz, and other gifts in exchange for doing favors for Egypt and trying to interfere with criminal investigations in cases connected to Daibes and Uribe.
Prosecutors say that as part of the scheme, Hana secured monopoly rights for halal meat exports from the U.S. to Egypt – a lucrative arrangement that they say helped fund some of the bribes.
Menendez is accused of meeting with Egyptian officials and using his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to open up arms sales to Egypt. Prosecutors also say he ghostwrote a letter from Egyptian officials seeking U.S. aid.
This is the second federal indictment of New Jersey’s senior senator. In 2017, he was tried for bribery and corruption…
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