A Democrat senator has been charged with bribery.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has been indicted for bribery, U.S. prosecutors announced on Sept. 22.
Mr. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were indicted on charges of bribing three New Jersey businessmen.
According to charging documents obtained by The Epoch Times, Mr. Menendez and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. The bribes included cash, gold, and payments toward a home mortgage, officials said. Authorities seized some of the gold and cash while serving a search warrant at the Menendez home in June 2022.
In exchange for the bribes, Mr. Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was said to have used his power and influence to “protect and enrich” the businessmen and Egypt, which receives more than $1 billion from the U.S. government per year in grants and military equipment sales.
Those actions allegedly included providing non-public, sensitive information to the government of Egypt and pressuring a top official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect a monopoly that had been secured by one of the businessmen.
After Egypt had begun struggling to receive military aid, Ms. Menendez introduced Egyptian officials to her then-boyfriend at which the officials raised concerns about the stall in funding. Mr. Menendez promised, according to authorities, he would help facilitate the sales in exchange for, among other promises, one of the businessmen saying he would place Ms. Menendez on the payroll of his company.
Mr. Menendez later met with Egyptian military officials at his Senate office. He also met with the businessman and disclosed sensitive information about U.S. military aid. Shortly after the meeting, the businessman allegedly texted one of the officials, writing: “The ban on small arms and ammunition to Egypt has been lifted. That means sales can begin. That will include sniper rifles among other articles.”
