In order to start an 11-year jail sentence for a bribery and corruption plot, former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez reported at the Federal Correctional Institution, Schuylkill, in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
A federal conviction caused the 71-year-old, who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and served in the U.S. Senate for almost 20 years, to lose his political career.
Bribery, extortion, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and operating as a foreign agent for Egypt—a first for a sitting U.S. senator—were among the 16 charges Menendez was found guilty of in July 2024. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted nearly $1 million in bribes, including cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible, in exchange for political favors that benefited three New Jersey businessmen as well as the governments of Egypt and Qatar, according to the prosecution, which characterized the case as a flagrant corruption scheme.
Menendez secured military assistance for Egypt, protected a businessman’s monopoly, and interfered with criminal investigations for other people as part of the conspiracy, which ran from 2018 to 2022. To sway state fraud probes, one businessman gave the senator’s wife a fancy automobile. Additionally, two associates were found guilty and given lengthy terms (more than eight years and seven years, respectively) along with significant penalties.
In 2022, FBI investigators investigated Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs house and discovered more than $480,000 in cash concealed in shoes and clothes, over $100,000 in gold bars, and other expensive presents that were used as proof of the senator’s corruption. Menendez insisted on his innocence, saying that his acts were lawful constituent services and that the gold belonged to his wife.
The incarceration of the once-dominant Democrat brings an end to a scandal that stunned the country and New Jersey, highlighting the repercussions of abusing public office. Three years of supervised release and more than $200,000 in forfeiture and reparations are part of Menendez’s sentence. Due to health concerns, his wife’s trial has been postponed and is still ongoing.
