New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez possesses an ability to hang on through corruption scandals that would bury most politicians. In 2018, less than one year after a federal bribery trial for accepting lavish gifts from a Florida eye doctor ended in a mistrial, Menendez was reelected to the Senate for a third term. But it didn’t take too long for federal prosecutors in Manhattan to open another investigation into the senator, this time for allegedly accepting gifts from Jersey high rollers in exchange for political favors.
Per a report from NBC 4 New York, prosecutors are investigating allegations that Menendez or his wife, Nadine Arslanian, accepted gold bars worth as much as $400,000 from a developer and former bank executive named Fred Daibes, who was facing federal bank-fraud charges when the gift was exchanged. In 2022, Daibes pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud for lying about a $1.8 million loan from the bank, where he served as chair.
The investigation is reportedly focused on whether Menendez offered to contact Justice Department officials regarding Daibe’s case in exchange for the gold — an act that could run afoul of the Federal Extortion Act. NBC 4 reports that a grand jury is hearing from witnesses on the matter and could soon decide on corruption charges for Menendez. In 2020, Menendez and his wife filed a disclosure stating that he had the gold bars in his possession — but only after the criminal investigation was launched.
The gold bars are not the only gifts the senator is accused of taking.
Menendez, who is facing a small-town mayor in the Democratic primary for 2024, also allegedly took cash from the owner of a powerful halal importer in Edgewater, New Jersey, whom his wife knew before she began dating the senator. Federal prosecutors and the FBI are reportedly investigating if Menendez received a Mercedes-Benz and a luxury Washington, D.C., apartment in exchange for political favors. So far, the senator has denied any wrongdoing. “I am sure it is going to end up in absolutely nothing,” he said in May.
