- Nadine Menendez and three associates, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to additional conspiracy charges
- New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife were first charged in September when investigators found more than $100,000 worth of gold bars in their home
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife and three other defendants pleaded not guilty to revised charges of corruption and bribery.
Nadine Menendez and three associates, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, entered their pleas in a New York City court on Wednesday.
In September, the New Jersey senator and his wife were charged with accepting bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen to gain influence.
These allegations alleged that in March 2022, Nadine met with a jeweler Hana was in contact with to sell two one-kilogram gold bars that she falsely claimed came from her mother.
The new indictment, filed last week, added a new charge of conspiracy to exploit the senator as an agent of the Egyptian government.
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine were accused of conspiring to use the senator as an Egyptian government agent in a revised indictment
Authorities said they found gold bars worth more than $100,000 in Menendez’s home. In March 2022, Nadine met with a jeweler to sell some gold bars that she falsely claimed to have gotten from her mother
Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to use his power as a senator to benefit the three businessmen and the country of Egypt.
“Piling one new accusation after another does not make the allegations true.” The facts have not changed, just one new accusation. “It’s an attempt to wear someone down and I will not give in to that tactic,” Menendez told Fox News Digital.
“I once again ask the people who know me and my past to give me the chance to defend myself and prove my innocence.”
Authorities said they found nearly $500,000 cash in his home, much of it hidden in clothing and closets.
There was also more than $100,000 worth of gold bars in the New Jersey home Menendez shares with his wife.
The senator, who resigned as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his arrest, was excluded from the trial until Monday on Senate business.
Nadine Menendez left federal court Wednesday after pleading not guilty to additional conspiracy charges
Senator Bob Menendez (left) arrived on Capitol Hill for a hearing on Wednesday. He was excused from the criminal proceedings because of Senate business
At Wednesday’s trial, the judge rejected a request from Hana to remove a GPS monitoring device attached to his leg.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal opposed the request, saying Hana, a citizen of the U.S. and Egypt, was a flight risk because of his ties to the Egyptian government and he had more than $25 million in assets abroad have.
Hana’s lawyer, Lawrence Lustberg, said the device made his client uncomfortable and that he intended to remain in the country to prove his innocence.
The New Jersey senator previously pleaded not guilty to the original bribery charges.