Former New Jersey senator sentenced to 11 years after receiving bribes and acting as an agent for Egypt

NEW YORK – Former New Jersey senator, Bob Menendez, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for acting as a foreign agent of Egypt, bribery and obstruction on Wednesday.

Danielle Sassoon, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Menendez’s sentence along with two New Jersey businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who had ties to Egyptian officials.

During Menendez's third term in office, he accepted gold bars, money, a Mercedes-Benz and payments towards the Senator’s wife, Nadina Menendez, a home mortgage from Hana, Daibes and Jose Uribes, who worked in the New Jersey insurance and trucking business.

In exchange for the lavish items, Senator Menendez agreed to use his power in the Senate to influence decisions in favor of foreign countries and protect the businessmen.

Allegedly, he attempted to coerce the U.S. Department of Agriculture officials to protect a business monopoly granted to Hana, advocated for Egypt's interests by ghostwriting a letter for his Senate colleagues, attempted to interfere in a New Jersey criminal investigation and recommended a U.S. attorney nomination that would benefit Daibes.

These bribes started when the Senator’s wife worked with Hana to introduce Menendez to the Egyptian officials.

In June 2022, the FBI executed a court-warranted search of the Menendez’s home in New Jersey and found over $480,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes and other items around the house.

The FBI found Menendez and Diabes’s fingerprints in some of the envelopes found in the home and traced furnishing and the Mercedes-Benz back to Hana and Daibes.

Menendez, Hana and Daibes were convicted in July 2024. Shortly after in August, Menendez resigned his position in the Senate.

The nine-week jury trial led to the sentencing by the U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein on Wednesday.

Uribe pleaded guilty to bribery, obstruction of justice, tax evasion and wire fraud. His sentencing will be April 24, 2025.

Nadine Menendez's charges are still pending and are scheduled to go on trial on March 18, 2025.

Cora Rodriguez is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email cir5381@psu.edu.