Sen. Pumpkinhead Menendez Employed Registered Sex Offender & Illegal Immigrant

[The Bobster]

Bob Menendez’s alleged bribery scheme had wife using alternate ‘007’ phone, involved $35K diamond ring: court docs

Nadine Menendez’s diamond engagement ring came from funds obtained in a bribe, prosecutors said.

nypost.com

Bob Menendez’s alleged bribery scheme had wife using alternate ‘007’ phone, involved $35K diamond ring: court docs​

By
Social Links for Olivia Land



Published Feb. 14, 2024, 9:39 a.m. ET




New Jersey Senator Bob "Pumpkin Head" Menendez’s wife, Nadine, received a diamond engagement ring as part of their alleged bribery scheme, which at times involved her using an alternate phone that the couple referred to as her “007” device, according to new court filings.


The veteran Democrat, 70, allegedly had an arrangement with Egyptian-American halal purveyor Wael Hana, but it supposedly nearly fell apart when the latter tried to cheat the politician and his wife, Nadine, out of the value of a diamond engagement ring, new court documents filed late Monday revealed.


Menendez allegedly received $150,000 in exchange for intervening in a criminal insurance fraud case, the documents indicated.


Hana – a co-defendant accused of using his company to funnel bribes to the Menendezes – was tasked with using part of the payout to buy Nadine a new Mercedez Benz convertible and the $35,000 sparkler.


Hana, however, actually bought a $12,000 ring, and racked up a $35,000 receipt by splurging on two watches, a bracelet, and a necklace for himself, prosecutors stated.


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Senator Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were indictment on bribery charges last fall. Getty Images
“The Hana associate also explained that Menendez knew that Hana shortchanged him with respect to the ring, and that Nadine Menendez…had taken the ring back to the jeweler and learned that it was worth less money,” the document explained.


“Wael…was about to ruin things with Bob. Bob who is starting to listen to us.” a confidential source with ties to Egyptian officials said, according to prosecutors.


The new Mercedes, meanwhile, was intended to replace the car Nadine wrecked when she struck and killed a pedestrian in Bogota in 2018.


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Senator Menendez narrowly dodged federal charges in 2017.
Last fall, Bob and Nadine Menendez have pleaded not guilty to federal charges that they allegedly accepted hefty bribes – including hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars – from three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for political favors.


Subsequent charges also accused Menendez of leveraging his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to act as an agent of Egyptian and Qatari interests.


The new filings rebutted the senator’s request to block evidence seized during searches of his Englewood Cliffs home on the basis that investigators were overly broad and ignored details that were favorable to the couple.


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Investigators found heaps of cash in the couple’s New Jersey home. US District Court
At times, Menendez made calls to what the couple supposedly referred to as Nadine’s “‘007’ phone” – an apparent reference to the fictional spy James Bond, prosecutors revealed in the new evidence drop.


When investigators searched the Englewood Cliffs house, they also supposedly found two bags filled with $100,000 cash each “on top of a large rack of clothes hangers” in the couple’s basement, the filing added.


“Under the jackets were four boots, stuffed with cash, including one boot containing in excess of $5,000 in $50 bills,” the document stated.


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The couple claimed that the gold bars were inherited from Nadine’s mother. U.S. Attorneyâs Office
Both Menendez and his wife had apparently told staffers that the gold bars at the residence were inherited from the latter’s mother after her death.


At the height of the coronavirus pandemic in late 2020 and early 2021, Menendez also supposedly asked several New Jersey mayors to authorize COVID testing at a particular laboratory that was paying Nadine at the time, prosecutors alleged in the court documents filed late Monday.


The damning evidence, prosecutors wrote in the new filing, should be more than enough to demonstrate that “Menendez did in fact know about the corrupt quid pro quo.”




The filing also slammed the senator’s counsel’s claims that the allegations against him were part of “the government’s apparent zeal to ‘get back’ at Senator Menendez” after he narrowly dodged a federal corruption conviction in 2017.
The Menendezes’ three co-defendants – including Hanna – have pleaded not guilty.
The attorneys from Bob Menendez, Nadine, and Wael Hanna did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for a comment.

 

[The Bobster]

Disgraced pol Bob Menendez showed cash-stuffed safe to married lover who posed nude for him — 15 years before FBI gold bars raid: dossier

The Democrat is alleged to have flashed “hidden” wealth and bragged of kickbacks in 2007, during a torrid affair with nude pictures and mile-high sex.

nypost.com

Disgraced pol Bob Menendez showed cash-stuffed safe to married lover who posed nude for him — 15 years before FBI gold bars raid: dossier​

By
Social Links for Isabel Vincent



Published Feb. 20, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET








US Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez showed his married lover a safe stuffed with cash 15 years before the FBI raided the New Jersey Democrat’s home, an explosive dossier shared with The Post alleges.


The lover bragged to her friends that she had seen “bundles of cash” stuffed in “hidden places” in 2007, according to the document.


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Sen. Bob Menendez, the veteran New Jersey Democrat, is accused of having had a torrid affair with married Spanish-language newspaper publisher Cecilia Reynolds in 2007, with claims she boasted of seeing his safe stuffed with cash. New York Post
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During the alleged affair, Reynolds, then 44, posed for this nude photo during a trip to Puerto Rico. It was included in an anonymous dossier with these white markings. The dossier was circulated in 2013 and obtained in full by The Post. New York Post
And it also claimed that Menendez boasted about “kickbacks from contractors and influence seeking people” while they conducted a torrid affair that included nude photos and sex on both a private jet and a bed that the senator said had been used by President John F. Kennedy.


The revelations come after veteran Democrat Menendez, 70, and his second wife, Nadine Arslanian, were indicted on bribery and corruption charges last year after federal authorities seized nearly $500,000 in cash and gold bars at their Englewood Cliffs, NJ, home.

And last week, federal prosecutors alleged in a new filing that Arslanian, 56, received a diamond engagement ring as part of the alleged bribery scheme and used an alternate phone that the couple dubbed “007” to communicate with one of their alleged co-conspirators.


The couple and their co-accused, New Jersey businessmen Fred Daibes, Wael Hana and Jose Uribe, have all pleaded not guilty to all charges.


Menendez claims the gold bars were Arslanian’s mother’s and that he withdrew the cash from his bank accounts for decades because of “the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba.”


The Post first revealed in 2013 that Mendendez had conducted an affair with Cecilia Reynolds — a married former church secretary whom he met when she was the publisher of a small Spanish-language newspaper in Freehold, NJ.

 

[The Bobster]

Sen. Bob Menendez and wife plead not guilty to latest obstruction of justice charges

Menendez and his wife stayed silent as they entered Manhattan federal court after they were charged in a new, 18-count indictment.

www.cbsnews.com

Sen. Bob Menendez and wife plead not guilty to latest obstruction of justice charges​

By Christine Sloan, Christina Fan

Updated on: March 11, 2024 / 5:56 PM EDT / CBS New York

NEW YORK -- New Jersey Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, pleaded not guilty to new obstruction of justice charges Monday.

Menendez and his wife stayed silent as they entered Manhattan federal court after they were charged in an 18-count indictment last week.

The couple is accused of taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, including $500,000 cash stuffed in envelopes, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz, for political favors.

The latest indictment alleges they tried to make bribes look like loans.

"Once again, not guilty your honor," Menendez told the judge Monday.




Businessman Jose Uribe recently pleaded guilty and told a judge he gave the senator's wife a car to influence him.

Uribe claims he met with Nadine Menendez after search warrants were executed on the couple's home and agreed to call bribes loans. He said he will cooperate with investigators.

Businessmen Fred Daibes and Wael Hana also pleaded not guilty Monday.

Wael's attorney Lawrence Lustberg said his client is not cutting a deal.




"My client is not going to plead guilty or cooperate. He's not guilty and he's going to be acquitted at trial," said Lustberg. "That one cooperator doesn't have much to say about him. But to the extent he does, we are confident that we can impeach his credibility."

Menendez, who said he will not resign, is also charged with acting as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt, which Hana allegedly has ties to.

"His actions will be shown not to be for the benefit of the government of Egypt," said Lustberg.

During the arraignment, we learned the government plans on calling fingerprint and DNA experts at trial, which is scheduled to start May 6.

Sources close to Menendez, a Democrat, told CBS New York reports he is not running for reelection are false. Walking out of court, Menendez said he hasn't ruled out running as an independent.

The senator's next court appearance is April 30.

What's in the new indictment against Sen. Menendez and his wife?​

According to new court documents, Menendez's wife met with Uribe after federal investigators executed search warrants at the couple's home and, during the meeting, they allegedly discussed payments for a Mercedes-Benz convertible he gave her after prosecutors allege the senator agreed to try to influence the prosecution of someone close to Uribe. During their meeting, prosecutors said Uribe agreed he would tell investigators the car payments were loans.




The couple has been charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly falsely characterizing the return of bribe money as repayment for loans.

• Read More: New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez faces new charges of bribery, obstruction of justice

Menendez called the latest charges "an abuse of power" and insisted he is innocent.

"The government has now falsely alleged a cover-up and obstruction," he said in a statement. "The latest charge reveals far more about the government than it says about me. It says that the prosecutors are afraid of the facts, scared to subject their charges to the fair-minded scrutiny of a jury, and unconstrained by any sense of justice or fair play."

Menendez, his wife, and the other two businessmen pleaded not guilty to the previous set of charges against them.

 

[The Bobster]

Sen. Bob Menendez won't run in N.J. Democratic primary, may seek reelection as independent if cleared in bribery case

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey faces more than a dozen charges stemming from allegations he traded his political influence for money as part of a yearslong bribery scheme.

www.cbsnews.com

Sen. Bob Menendez won't run in N.J. Democratic primary, may seek reelection as independent if cleared in bribery case​

By Caitlin Yilek, Melissa Quinn

Updated on: March 21, 2024 / 7:37 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Indicted Sen. Bob "Pumpkinhead" Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, announced Thursday that he won't run in the Democratic primary as he faces allegations he traded his political influence for money, but said he could seek reelection as an independent if he's exonerated.

"I will not file for the Democratic primary this June. I am hopeful that my exoneration will take place this summer and allow me to pursue my candidacy as an independent Democrat in the general election," Menendez said in a video shared on YouTube.

Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges in September and has been defiant against calls to resign, though he did step down from his powerful chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee.

The charges allege Menendez and his wife, Nadine, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes, including cash, furniture and gold bars, while using his power and influence to enrich and protect three New Jersey businessmen and benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

In the months since, superseding indictments alleged Menendez and his wife conspired to act as a foreign agent for Egypt and accepted expensive gifts in exchange for favorable comments about Qatar. The latest indictment unsealed in March accused the duo of obstructing the investigation into the scheme.





Menendez and his wife have pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Their trial is set to begin in May.



Although Menendez has faced calls to resign or retire before, the indictment in this case brought the biggest threat to his political future, prompting a slew of New Jersey Democrats to call for his resignation, including Gov. Phil Murphy.

"Unfortunately, the present accusations I am facing, of which I am innocent and will prove so, will not allow me to have that type of dialogue and debate with political opponents that have already made it the cornerstone of their campaign," Menendez said.

A fierce primary is already underway to replace Menendez in the Senate, with Rep. Andy Kim and New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy topping the field of contenders vying for the Democratic nomination.




While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has stopped short of calling for Menendez to resign, he has said the "Senate has certain standards that we must live up to" and that he is "disappointed" that Menendez has not "lived up to those standards."

In his video statement, Menendez acknowledged the disappointment but indicated he has no plans to step down from Congress.

"I know many of you are hurt and disappointed in me with the accusations I'm facing," he said. "Believe me, I am disappointed at the false accusations as well. All I can ask of you is to withhold judgment until justice takes place. Until then, I will continue to work my heart out each and every day, as I have for the past 19 years to fight for New Jersey, for you, your family, in a more prosperous, secure future."