Well, this sounds a bit more than bribery, don’t you think? Sounds more like treason. Nevertheless, Senator Bob Menendez was found guilty on all charges in his federal corruption trial.
Fox News reports:
The jury in the federal corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and two of his business associates, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, found Menendez guilty on all charges after a grueling nine-week complex trial in Manhattan.
Menendez pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he accepted an array of bribes in exchange for helping foreign governments. Jurors deliberated for three days. The conviction on all 16 counts against him exposes Menendez to a sentence of more than 200 years in prison, though such a heavy sentence is unlikely.
The judge scheduled the senator’s sentencing date for Oct. 29.
…
During the trial, prosecutors used cited emails and text messages from Menendez – as well as FBI testimony – to present evidence they argued shows the senator accepted extravagant gifts from foreign governments. The gifts totaled more than $100,000 worth of gold bars, in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash stuffed throughout Menendez’s New Jersey home.
Menendez was charged by federal prosecutors with 18 counts since he pleaded innocent last year, all relating to a multiyear alleged bribery scheme involving the Egypt and Qatar governments.
In March, an 18-page indictment was wrapped into Menendez’s existing charges already against him and his co-defendants — including his wife, Nadine — for allegedly acting as a foreign agent and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to benefit the Egyptian government through his power and influence as a senator.
The indictment came after co-defendant Jose Uribe – who allegedly gifted Nadine a Mercedes convertible – accepted a plea deal and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. The charges also alleged Menendez committed conspiracy, bribery, acting as a foreign agent, extortion and wire fraud.
