Corrupt U.S. Senator Bob Menendez off to prison for 11 years

Bob Menendez, formerly a Democratic U.S. Senator, was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment Wendesday following his conviction on corruption charges.

U.S. Attorney Danielle R. Sassoon said: "The sentences imposed today result from an egregious abuse of power at the highest levels of the Legislative Branch of the federal government.  Robert Menendez was trusted to represent the United States and the State of New Jersey, but instead he used his position to help his co-conspirators and a foreign government, in exchange for bribes like cash, gold, and a luxury car.  The sentences imposed today send a clear message that attempts at any level of government to corrupt the nation's foreign policy and the rule of law will be met with just punishment."

Menendez (D-Egypt) landed in it after investigators got a load of the stolen gold bars in his house and the cash hidden inside clothes there. He was also charged with obstructing justice.

Between 2018 and 2022, MENENDEZ and Nadine Menendez agreed to and did accept hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of bribes from HANA, DAIBES, and Uribe. These bribes included gold, cash, a luxury convertible, payments toward Nadine Menendez's home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job for Nadine Menendez, home furnishings, and other things of value. In June 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") executed a court-authorized search warrant at the New Jersey home of MENENDEZ and Nadine Menendez. During that search, the FBI found many of the fruits of this bribery scheme. Over $480,000 in cash — much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe — was discovered in the home. Some of the envelopes contained the fingerprints of MENENDEZ or DAIBES. Agents also found home furnishings provided by HANA and DAIBES, the luxury vehicle paid for by Uribe parked in the garage, as well as over one hundred thousand dollars' worth of gold bars in the home, which were provided by either HANA or DAIBES.

His lawyer found time to lament the nickname Mendendez has apparently picked up: "Gold Bar Bob."

"Despite his decades of service, he is now known more widely as Gold Bar Bob," defense lawyer Adam Fee told Stein.

"Your honor, I am far from a perfect man. I have made more than my share of mistakes and bad decisions," Menendez told the judge. "I've done far more good than bad. I ask you, your honor, to judge me in that context."

Previously:
• Obstruction charge for comically corrupt U.S. Senator Bob Menendez
• Corrupt Democratic senator Bob Menendez to resign from U.S. Senate, but not yet
• U.S. Senator Bob Menendez charged over Qatari gifts
• Sen. Bob Menendez, already famous for cash-stuffed suits, now charged as unregistered agent of Egyptian government