New Jersey businessman Wael Hana was struggling with a mountain of debt in late 2018 when his friend became U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s new girlfriend in a whirlwind romance.
His house had been seized in foreclosure and he had been sued for passing bad checks.
But within months of Menendez (D-NJ) and Nadine Arslanian becoming a couple, her friend Hana moved into a “stately” apartment.
After a meeting in the senator’s office with Egyptian diplomats that Arslanian also attended, Hana, a Christian, became the only person in the world allowed to import halal meat into the country.
Now the FBI is investigating whether Menendez and Arslanian, 56, received gifts, including a vehicle and an apartment in Washington, DC, from Hana or her company IS EG Halal, according to reports.
The extensive corruption investigation is the FBI’s second investigation into Menendez. He was indicted in 2015 for accepting lavish bribes from Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Palm Beach ophthalmologist, in exchange for favors that included obtaining visas for the man’s parade of younger brides.
Wael Hana (third from right) has been awarded the global contract to certify halal products for more than 90 million Egyptian Muslims. He is a Christian with no halal experience.
Bob Menendez and his new wife, Nadine Arslanian, who attended a reception for the Greek prime minister at the White House in May, are being investigated for allegedly receiving luxury gifts from Hana.Getty Images
His first trial ended in a mistrial, then prosecutors dropped the charges rather than go to a new trial when the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of corruption.
Arslanian sold up to $400,000 worth of gold bars in 2022, The Post reported last week. She had also seen her life change after meeting Menendez: Before they became a couple, she had been facing foreclosure on her Bergen County home, but after they met, she created a business. consulting.
Menendez’s spokeswoman declined to comment. She told The Post last week: “As previously stated, the senator remains confident that this matter will be successfully resolved.”
Hana has moved into a “stately” rental complex in Edgewater, New Jersey, owned by the Egyptian government and developed by one of Senator Menendez’s friends and donors in a remarkable reversal of fortune. google maps
Hana’s previous home had been in the Bayonne two-family home (left) that she had lost in foreclosure, which made moving to a luxury home in Englewood even more of a transformation.
Hana, 39, was born in Egypt and had come to make his fortune in New Jersey, but it had been a rocky road, with a $38,000 sentence for passing bad checks, a legal dispute over a bid to export luxury cars to China, and then lost his house in Bayonne to foreclosure in early 2019.
At the end of 2018, her friend Arslanian, divorced and mother of two, began a relationship with the Democratic senator from New Jersey; The couple later told the New York Times that they met at an IHOP and that she immediately found him “attractive.”
And as the 69-year-old senator’s whirlwind romance unfolded, Hana experienced a remarkable reversal of fortune.
Menendez and Arslanian at their wedding in 2020. Arslanian was struggling financially when she met the senator, but has seen a turnaround in her fortunes. His house is no longer in foreclosure and he sold up to $400,000 worth of gold bullion last year. Senator Bob Menendez / Instagram
Hana and Arslanian were present at Menendez’s Senate office for a meeting with Egyptian diplomats, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In April 2019, he was named the only authorized importer of meat and other halal products in Egypt, a field in which he had no experience but which meant he controlled a market of 90 million Egyptian Muslims.
That was not all: Hana became a military contractor and signed agreements with the Egyptian Ministry of Defense, according to legal documents.
“Everyone was taken by surprise,” said Timothy Hyatt, vice president of American Islamic Services.
“There were no ifs ands or buts about it. Once IS EG was in charge, there was nothing the American certifiers could do.”
Menendez’s previous FBI corruption investigation resulted in an indictment that included charges that he had arranged a visa for Juliana Lopes Leite as a favor in exchange for girls from his older lover. It ended first with a mistrial and then with the charges dropped before a new trial. © juliana_leite_us / Instagram
In June 2019, in a sign of her change, Hana moved into a “stately” building with Italian mosaic floors and marble columns overlooking the Hudson River in Edgewater, New Jersey, a complex owned by the Egyptian government, according to public records.
Soon, Hana was traveling the world, hosting high-level meetings with diplomats and CEOs of some of the world’s largest beef exporters, and living like a wealthy jet-setter. The images show it in the Middle East, Paraguay, Uruguay and Mexico.
But in November 2019, he was planning a trip to India, a month after a trip Menendez took as part of a congressional delegation in which he proposed to Arslanian singing in front of the Taj Mahal, when the FBI raided his offices. and his apartment. .
Several mobile phones, computers, cash and gold jewelry were seized. Hana sued the government for their return, saying they took four watches, including two Rolexes that she said “gave me,” a gold chain she bought in Italy, and $15,000 worth of earrings she had designed for her mother in a friend’s factory in Italy, according to court documents.
Wael Hana (right) in a meeting at the Paraguayan embassy in Egypt. Hana has traveled the world to establish branches of her company IS EG Halal Certification, based in Edgewater, New Jersey.
Among the items were nearly $6,000 in cash and a “’dark green substance’ with a ‘golden cigarette,’” according to court documents.
Federal agents also confiscated his passport. “I was hoping and planning to travel to India also at the end of last year to set up a new branch of the company,” Hana said in the January 2020 federal filing.
“My travels frequently require me to meet with government officials from around the world, as they often seek to market halal-certified exports as a means of increasing their trade with Egypt.
“Ultimately, I plan to establish IS EG Halal branches all over the world and I will have to travel extensively to achieve that goal.”
Menéndez proposed to Arslanian in front of the Taj Mahal in October 2019.Robert&Nadine/YouTube
In the lawsuit demanding the return of her property, Hana testified that her company received halal certification from the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture to remove the import industry from the control of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group the Egyptian government considers terrorist.
“They gave me the certification because they know I am not associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and because they trust my work,” he said.
He testified that another company he controls, Loundes Express Group, ships goods to Egypt for his government, and said in a footnote to his legal filing that he was in negotiations with a New York law firm to establish a licensing company. of freight forwarding “to be in charge of shipping everything sold by the United States Army to the Egyptian Army.”
Hana eventually recovered the property that federal authorities had seized, a source familiar with the situation told The Post.
Wael Hana (third from left) at a meeting in the Middle East, where his company IS EG Halal Certification has become a major player in halal certification.LinkedIn
Hana’s spokeswoman said the allegations about “cars, apartments, cash and jewelry provided by anyone associated with IS EG Halal” to Menendez or his wife “are totally without foundation.”
“IS EG Halal obtained its halal certification contract with Egypt without any assistance from Senator Menendez or any other American public official,” he said.
“Senator Menéndez never helped Mr. Hana with any contract.”
Hana’s luxurious Edgewater home was developed by another person caught up in the growing corruption investigation into Menendez: the senator’s longtime friend and donor, Fred Daibes.
Wael Hana (center) attends a trade show at the Dubai World Trade Center.LinkedIn
Hana also shares an office with Daibes in a business complex he developed and owns at 125 River Road in Edgewater. The IS EG Halal certification is based there.
Prosecutors investigating Menendez and his wife subpoenaed Daibes earlier this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Daibes also purchased the debts owed in the check cashing lawsuits against Hana.
Daibes was previously indicted on multiple counts in 2018 for conspiring to circumvent lending limits by a bank he founded. He pleaded guilty last year to one charge and is awaiting sentencing, which has been rescheduled four times, according to court records.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn