Disgraced ex-senator Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) was sentenced to 11 years in prison Wednesday afternoon for his role in a bribery scheme.
Menendez was charged in 2023 and convicted last summer on 16 counts, including bribery, extortion, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors requested a 15-year sentence for Menendez, citing “the seriousness of the defendants’ crimes, the immeasurable harm they have caused to the public trust, and the need to deter others from engaging in such egregious abuses of power.”
The New Jersey Democrat and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted bribes in exchange for political favors to the Egyptian government and three businessmen, prosecutors said. During an FBI raid on the Menendezes’ home, agents discovered $480,000 in cash—”much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe”—along with gold bars valued at around $100,000.
Menendez is the first senator in U.S. history to be convicted of working as a foreign agent. His co-defendants, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, were sentenced to seven and eight years, respectively. His wife is set to go on trial in March.
Menendez, who resigned in August after serving as a senator since 2006, maintained his innocence. “Your Honor, you have before you a chastened man,” Menendez said. “You really don’t know the man you are about to sentence.”
“Somewhere along the way, you became, I’m sorry to say, a corrupt politician,” Judge Sidney Stein said. “The public cannot be led to the belief that you can get away with bribery, fraud, and betrayal.”
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