Menendez’s Wife Claimed Sketchy Gold Bars Were Her Mom’s

Photo: John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock

Of all the corruption-adjacent gifts Senator Robert Menendez allegedly accepted in recent years, the most memorable has to be the gold bars, worth over $100,000, that FBI agents found in his home.

So far, the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, who is also implicated in allegations of bribery, have not stated publicly why the bars were there — or why Robert was searching online for “how much is one kilo of gold worth.” But in a filing late on Monday, prosecutors said that Menendez and his wife have both explained where they got the gold. One staffer interviewed said the senator had informed them that “the gold had come from Nadine Menendez’s deceased mother.” Mrs. Menendez allegedly made the same claim when speaking to a jeweler.

But according to prosecutors, this was “a false cover story” to hide the item’s provenance: New Jersey businessmen allegedly looking to bribe Menendez in exchange for political favors. In December, NBC New York reported that four of the gold bars found in Menendez’s home had serial numbers matching those stolen from a New Jersey real-estate developer named Fred Daibes in 2013. Daibes has pleaded not guilty to charges that he bribed Menendez in exchange for the senator leaning on a U.S. attorney who was overseeing an unrelated bank-fraud case against Daibes.

In a statement in January, Menendez claimed that he will provide “a full explanation of what is the truth” regarding the gold bars at his trial, which is scheduled to begin May 6.