WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his spouse have been indicted on expenses of bribery.
Federal prosecutors on Friday introduced the costs towards the 69-year-old Democrat almost six years after an earlier legal case towards him ended with a deadlocked jury. They stated a search of Bob Menendez’s dwelling turned up $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in hidden money.
The newest indictment is unrelated to the sooner expenses that alleged Menendez accepted lavish presents to strain authorities officers on behalf of a Florida physician.
The Senate Historical Office says Menendez seems to be the primary sitting senator in U.S. historical past to have been indicted on two unrelated legal allegations.
Menendez faces reelection subsequent 12 months in a bid to increase his three-decade profession in Washington, and as Democrats maintain a slender majority within the Senate.
A lawyer for Menendez’s spouse hasn’t responded to a message in search of remark. Messages had been left for Menendez’s Senate spokesperson and his political marketing consultant.
The first time Menendez was indicted, he had been accused of utilizing his political affect to assist a Florida eye physician who had lavished him with presents and marketing campaign contributions. Menendez seems to be the primary sitting senator in U.S. historical past to have been indicted on two unrelated legal allegations, in response to a listing maintained by the Senate Historical Office.
The new expenses comply with a yearslong investigation that examined, amongst different issues, the dealings of a New Jersey businessman — a good friend of Menendez’s spouse — who secured sole authorization from the Egyptian authorities to certify that meat imported into that nation meets Islamic dietary necessities. Investigators additionally requested questions in regards to the Menendez household’s interactions with a New Jersey developer.
Menendez faces re-election subsequent 12 months in a bid to increase his three-decade profession in Washington, and as Democrats maintain a slender majority within the Senate.
Menendez’s political profession had appeared as if it is perhaps over in 2015, when a federal grand jury in New Jersey indicted him on a number of expenses over favors he did for a good friend, Dr. Salomon Melgen.
Menendez was accused of pressuring authorities officers to resolve a Medicare billing dispute in Melgen’s favor, securing visas for the physician’s girlfriends and serving to shield a contract the physician had to offer port-screening tools to the Dominican Republic.
Menendez has all the time maintained his innocence. His legal professionals stated marketing campaign contributions and presents from Melgen — which included journeys on his personal jet to a resort within the Dominican Republic and a trip in Paris — had been tokens of their longtime friendship, not bribes.
Prosecutors dropped the case after a jury deadlocked in November 2017 on expenses together with bribery, fraud and conspiracy, and a choose dismissed some counts.
The Senate Ethics Committee later rebuked Menendez, discovering that he had improperly accepted presents, didn’t disclose them after which used his affect to advance Melgen’s private pursuits.
But months later, New Jersey voters returned Menendez to the Senate. He defeated a well-financed challenger in a midterm election that broke a Republican lock on energy in Washington.
Melgen was convicted of well being care fraud in 2017 however former President Donald Trump commuted his jail sentence.
Menendez is broadly anticipated to run for reelection subsequent 12 months.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez has held public workplace repeatedly since 1986, when he was elected mayor of Union City, New Jersey. He was a state legislator and spent 14 years within the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2006, Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated when he grew to become governor.
At least two different senators — Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas; Richard Kenney, D-Delaware — had been indicted on a number of events whereas nonetheless in workplace, however every senator’s indictments lined overlapping allegations, in response to the Senate Historical Office.
Neither Kenney nor Hutchinson had been in the end convicted, and each went on to serve their full phrases. In whole, 13 senators have been indicted all through historical past, of which six have been convicted, in response to the Senate Historical Office. Two of these convictions had been overturned.
Menendez first publicly disclosed that he was the topic of a brand new federal investigation final October.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”