Prosecutors unveiled additional details regarding the elaborate bribery scheme involving Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey in a court filing on Monday.
Allegations include a $150,000 bribe, which allegedly featured a diamond engagement ring for his wife, Nadine Menendez, a COVID-19 lab in New Jersey, and a “007” cellphone linked to Nadine.
According to prosecutors, Nadine’s engagement ring was part of a $150,000 bribe from a New Jersey man who asked Menendez to get him off the hook for criminal charges after he was charged with insurance fraud in the state.
Part of that chunk of cash was also used to purchase a Mercedes-Benz convertible for Nadine to replace her vehicle around the same time police records show she struck and killed a pedestrian in December 2018.
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Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine, leave a Manhattan court after they were arraigned on federal bribery charges on Sept. 27, 2023. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The filing also alleges that in 2020 and 2021, Menendez solicited New Jersey mayors to authorize the use of a specific COVID-19 testing laboratory that at the time was paying Nadine. Prosecutors argued the additional evidence show “substantial evidence that Menendez did in fact know about the corrupt quid pro quo.”
Menendez also allegedly regularly made calls to Nadine’s “007” phone, “an apparent reference to the fictional character James Bond,” prosecutors wrote.
Menendez, along with Nadine and three other New Jersey businessmen — Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes — were first charged in the federal bribery scheme on Sept. 23. All have pleaded not guilty.
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Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife, Nadine, arrive at the federal courthouse in New York on Sept. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon)
According to the latest superseding indictment unsealed last month, Menendez is accused of accepting bribes and gifts in exchange for helping to benefit Qatar as part of a corruption scheme from 2021 through 2023, one year longer than originally thought, the Justice Department said.
Menendez is already facing federal charges for allegedly acting as a foreign agent and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes to benefit the Egyptian government through his power and influence as a senator.
The Democrat senator allegedly made several public statements supporting the Qatari government and then provided them to Daibes so that he could share them with the Qatari investor and a Qatari government official. The investor negotiated a million-dollar investment real estate project with Daibes.
Among the allegations is that Menendez and his wife enriched themselves with cash, gold bars and other luxury items. The couple received the gifts in exchange for Menendez using his influence to induce the Qatari Investment Co. to invest with Daibes, prosecutors say.
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Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife, Nadine, arrive at the federal courthouse in New York on Sept. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Menendez’s office for comment. Menendez has repeatedly asserted his innocence and said “there is no evidence” of the gifts and payments he allegedly received as a suspected foreign agent.
The defendants are scheduled to appear together for trial in May.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano and David Spunt contributed to this report.
