Last Friday saw Bob Menendez indicted on multiple allegations that he and his partner had accepted bribes from a group of businessmen from New Jersey on behalf of interests in the African nation of Egypt– which totaled over $600,000. Prosecutors have further alleged that the couple accepted gold bars, cash, as well as a luxury car in return for helping out the businessmen.
The FBI also found around $500,000 in cash, and around $100,000 in gold at his house last year, which were also the alleged payments for the bribes. The vast number of allegations forced the senator to step down from his seat as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last Friday. There are quite a few charges labeled against Menendez, and his wife, Nadine Arslanian.
Bob Menendez Has Been Indicted By Prosecutors
One of the charges, bribery, which has been brought against Bob Menendez, his wife, and three businessmen from New Jersey, has gone on to allege that the group conspired to pay the Senator in exchange for a whole bunch of political favors. According to the prosecutors involved, Menendez directly and indirectly kept on demanding, seeking, receiving, and accepting something of value personally. In return, they were being influenced by the performance of the official act.
According to the indictment, Bob Menendez had pressured the prosecutors of New Jersey in an effort to disrupt the prosecutions of a whole bunch of state and federal criminal cases. He had also taken bribes from interests in Egypt and had also advocated for issues that were important to Egypt in Congress. This also includes putting pressure on the State Department to construct dams which were considered important to Egyptian interests- as well as advocating on the part of the military in Egypt to encourage American arms deals.