United States: Corrupted public official acts as foreign agent

Powerful United States Senator found guilty by the Jury in several aspects of corruption. Thousands of hundreds of dollars were found in cash along with gold bars at the perpetrator’s home, calling for his resignation.

70-year-old Democrat, Robert Menendez from New Jersey was found guilty of obstruction of justice, extortions, and for accepting bribes to offer allegiance and favors to the businessmen with correspondences to Egypt and Qatar. He will be sentenced on October 29, of this following year.

A fellow Democrat, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, panhandled Menendez to step down as the Senator.

Menendez, a career politician, is the sitting senator and leader of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He continued the same until the charges were filed. He even stated in June that he would run as an independent candidate in the election to be held in November.

The charges that the guilty was convicted of by the jurors, with less than three days of conferring, includes corruption and conspiracies to have committed bribery, although being a public official acted as a foreign agent, and hindering the process of justice.

In a statement, spokesman for the Southern District of New York prosecutor’s office said that the charges imposed on Menendez sum up to a high potential sentence of around 222 years in prison.

As per the reports, in the raid carried out by the FBI agents at Menendez’s New Jersey residence, an estimated of nearly US $500,000 in cash hidden all around the house, was recovered along a luxury Mercedes-Benz convertible and gold bars worth around US $150,000.

Nadine Menendez, the senator’s wife, is currently being pursued by the defence lawyers to shift the blame. She has also been charged with similar crimes but will be under separate trials as she breasts cancer is under treatment.

Two other businessmen have also been convicted who were allegedly helped by Robert Menendez. They are Egyptian-American Wael Hana and a real estate developer, Fred Daibes. Jose Uribe, an insurance broker and the third businessman has been convicted with charges of bribery.

Menendez is charged of the crime of interfering in the New Jersey’s prosecutor nominations, and, also accused of being paid to misuse his power and influence to benefit the Egyptian government and help Hana to dominate the US exports of Halal food products.

Prosecutor stated that Daibes and Hana have been imprisoned, facing a sentence of 100 years and 85 years respectively.