Four of the gold bars that Sen. Bob Menendez hid in his home were previously stolen from the businessman accused of bribing the New Jersey Democrat, according to a report.
Serial numbers on some of the gold found by the FBI during a June 2022 raid in Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, match the identifiers of the home Fred Daibes reported to police after an armed robbery in 2013, according to NBC News.
Thieves took $500,000 in cash and 22 gold bars from Daibes’ home in Edgewater, New Jersey, during the 2013 heist, the outlet reports.
Police later arrested four suspects and recovered the stolen gold.
Matching serial numbers indicate that authorities have directly linked at least some of the gold found in Menendez’s home to Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer and Menendez fundraiser.
Daibes has been accused of bribing the senator to obtain a series of favors, including help in thwarting a federal prosecution against him.
“Each gold bar has its own serial number,” Daibes told investigators in 2014 when asked about the stolen gold. “They’re all patterned…you’ll never see two patterns the same way.”
Menendez was indicted on federal bribery and corruption charges in September. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Daibes also signed “property release forms” to recover the gold, which certified that the stolen property belonged to him, according to the outlet.
Menendez, 69, was indicted on federal corruption charges in September related to an alleged years-long bribery scheme.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged Menendez and his wife, Nadine, 56, with three counts of conspiracy in connection with what prosecutors call a “corrupt bribery deal” that benefited the couple, three New Jersey businessmen: Daibes, Wael. Hana and José Uribe… and the government of Egypt.
The FBI found thirteen gold bars on Menendez’s property. AP
Prosecutors allege that in March 2022, Daibes gave Nadine two gold bars weighing one kilogram each, when gold was selling for $60,000 per kilogram.
The fingerprints of Daibes’ driver were later discovered on an envelope containing thousands of dollars in cash that was recovered from the couple’s home, according to the indictment.
In total, the FBI found 13 gold bars and $566,000 in cash, some stuffed in the senator’s jacket pockets, during its investigation into the alleged bribery scheme.
Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting bribes from Daibes in exchange for the senator’s help in protecting him from criminal prosecution in a bank fraud case. Christopher Sadowski
Menendez has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and has refused to resign from the Senate, despite numerous calls for him to do so, including from fellow Democrats.
Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting bribes from Daibes in exchange for the senator’s help in protecting him from criminal prosecution in a bank fraud case.
The New Jersey Democrat reportedly helped Daibes by recommending that President Biden pick Philip Sellinger, who the senator believed would apply a light touch to the case, for New Jersey’s U.S. attorney position.
If convicted of all charges, Menendez faces up to 45 years in prison.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn