Dem Senator Bob Menendez Found Guilty Of Accepting Cash, Gold, Benz Bribes

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was convicted on all 16 counts in a sweeping pay-for-play scheme to sell his office to foreign powers and shady businessmen in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, solid gold bars, and a Mercedes Benz.

A jury of 12 convicted him on charges including wire fraud, bribery and extortion - making Menendez the seventh sitting US senator to be convicted of a federal crime, placing pressure on him to resign before his term expires at year-end.

Menendez and his wife Nadine were accused by prosecutors of orchestrating a bribery scheme while he was head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he acted as an agent of Egypt, and intervened to quash a separate criminal prosecution in New Jersey in exchange for payoffs - and then tried to cover it up.

"It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington," said federal prosecutor Paul M. Monteleoni in his closing argument. "But he also wanted to use it to pile up riches for himself and his wife."

Menendez's attorney, Adam Fee, suggested that the senator's actions had been "100 percent appropriate," and accused the government of using "half-truths" to misrepresent the case. Fee also argued that the cash and gold weren't bribes, but instead generous gifts to Ms. Menendez during "lean times."

• The other defendants: Mr. Menendez stood trial alongside Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, New Jersey businessmen charged with bribing him. A third co-defendant pleaded guilty and testified that he bribed the Menendezes with a Mercedes-Benz.

• The senator’s wife: Nadine Menendez was also charged. But her trial was postponed indefinitely while she undergoes treatment for cancer and she did not show up in court. -NY Times

Menendez is set for sentencing on Oct. 29. 

Meanwhile, Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has called on him to resign.