Scandal-plagued Sen. Bob Menendez was hit Tuesday with new accusations of helping a wealthy businessman secure a real estate investment deal with a Qatari company and reaping benefits, including tickets to Formula One races. for a family member.
The superseding indictment filed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleges that Menendez, 70, congratulated the Middle East government for inducing a Doha-linked company to sign with New Jersey developer Fred Daibes, whom the lawmaker allegedly introduced to an investor who was part of Qatari royalty. family.
The filing, which does not include any new charges, extends the deadline on bribery allegations against the New Jersey Democrat to 2023 and adds Qatar and Egypt as countries Menendez allegedly went out of his way to help his friends.
The senator and his wife Nadine were initially accused in September of accepting bribes in the form of cash, gold bars and a Mercedes convertible in exchange for helping Daibes and two other businessmen, Wael Hana and José Uribe.
Menendez was subsequently charged the following month with conspiring to act as an agent of the government in Cairo, and requests for assistance were relayed to the senator through his wife and Hana.
All five defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Bob Menendez introduced a member of the Qatari royal family and director of a company with ties to the Qatari government to a New Jersey businessman, a new indictment alleges. AP
According to prosecutors, Daibes began paying Menendez in cash and gold bars to facilitate the Qatar deal in 2021. That June, Menendez allegedly introduced Daibes to the royal investor.
Later that summer, Menendez, then chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement supporting the Doha government as part of a shadow public relations campaign on Daibes’ behalf, investigators say.
On August 20, 2021, Menendez publicly thanked Qatar for hosting refugees from Afghanistan amid that country’s cataclysmic withdrawal from the Biden administration.
“I am grateful to see our friends and allies in Qatar set moral examples in accepting Afghans to finally seek safe refuge in the United States after being forced to flee for their lives,” the statement read in part.
Shortly before the press release came out, Menendez allegedly sent Daibes a message: “You might want to send them [the Qataris]. “I’m about to break free.” Daibes did just that, allegedly relaying the statement to the investor and another Qatari official.
The senator and his wife Nadine were initially accused in September of accepting bribes in the form of cash, gold bars and a Mercedes convertible in exchange for helping Daibes and two other businessmen, Wael Hana and José Uribe. SDNY
The following month, Menéndez and Daibes attended an event organized by the Qatari government. Days after that, on September 27, Daibes messaged the senator with photos of expensive wristwatches, including what appears to be a Swiss-made Patek Phillipe, and asked, “How about one of these?” .
The indictment does not say whether Menendez received any of the watches, but the next day, the Foreign Relations Committee began work on a resolution publicly thanking Qatar for its help with the evacuation from Afghanistan.
The measure was approved by the Senate in a voice vote the following May.
On October 17, 2021, Menendez and his wife were taken from the airport by Daibes’ driver after returning from a trip to Egypt and Qatar, according to the indictment.
The next day, the Garden State Democrat allegedly searched the Internet for “how much is a kilo of gold worth.”
Menendez was subsequently charged the following month with conspiring to act as an agent of the government in Cairo, and requests for assistance were relayed to the senator through his wife and Hana. US District Court
In May 2022, the company signed a letter of intent to settle with a company controlled by Daibes, which occurred immediately after a dinner involving Menendez, Daibes and the Qataris, prosecutors alleged.
Later, Daibes allegedly gave Menendez a gold bar. On May 26, 2022, Menéndez and Daibes met for dinner and then the senator allegedly Googled “the price of a kilo of gold.”
Weeks before, the accusation states, the Qatari investor provided tickets for the Miami Formula One Grand Prix to a relative of Nadine Menéndez at the senator’s request, a gesture that was repeated last year. Qatar Airways is the main sponsor of the racing circuit.
In the end, the Qatari company invested tens of millions of dollars in the Daibes project in 2023.
“The government’s new allegations reek of desperation,” Menendez’s attorney, Adam Fee, said in a statement.
According to prosecutors, Daibes began paying Menendez in cash and gold bars to facilitate the Qatar deal in 2021. AP
“Despite what they have touted in press releases, the government has no evidence to support any of the new or old allegations against Senator Menendez. What they have instead is a series of unfounded assumptions and bizarre conjectures based on routine, legal contacts between a senator and his constituents or foreign officials. They’re turning this into a chase, not a prosecution.
“At all times, Senator Menendez acted entirely appropriately with respect to Qatar, Egypt and many other countries with which he regularly interacts,” Fee added. “Those interactions were always based on his professional judgment regarding the best interests of the United States because he is, and always has been, a patriot. This latest allegation only exposes the lengths to which these hostile prosecutors will go to poison the public before the trial even begins. But these new accusations change nothing and his theories will not survive the scrutiny of the court or the jury.”
Menendez has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has resisted calls to resign, including from most Senate Democrats and members of his own party in the Garden State.
If convicted, the New Jersey Democrat could face up to 45 years in prison.
Menendez, who was first appointed to the Senate in 2006 and has been elected four times since, previously survived bribery charges in an unrelated matter in 2017 due to a hung jury.
Menendez has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has resisted calls to resign, including from most Senate Democrats and members of his own party in the Garden State. AP
He has not revealed whether he intends to run for re-election, but would face a three-way primary fight with progressive Rep. Andy Kim and New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy.
The trial in the case is scheduled to begin on May 6, although Menendez’s defense team has sought to delay the case until after the June 4 primary.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn