New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez convicted on all counts at sweeping corruption trial

Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts after a months-long trial in which he and three co-defendants faced the federal corruption and bribery charges.

In United States District Judge Sidney Stein's courtroom at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in lower Manhattan, the verdict for each of the 18 charges against the state's senior senator were read aloud.

Indictments against Menendez focused on bribery, Egypt, Qatar

The indictment was first unsealed last September and was updated with superseding indictments three times — in October, January and March. It alleged that New Jersey's senior senator, his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, and three New Jersey businessmen — Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes — were part of a bribery scheme. Menendez and his wife allegedly received, among other things, cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for using his political influence.

The indictment alleges that between 2018 and 2022, Menendez and his wife “engaged in a corrupt relationship with Hana, Uribe and Daibes” to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for Menendez using his “power and influence to protect, to enrich those businessmen and to benefit the government of Egypt ” even as Menendez was chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Gurbir Grewal, the former New Jersey attorney general, testified during the trial. Federal prosecutors have said Menendez sought to have Grewal, the state's top prosecutor from 2018 through 2021, intervene in cases involving two associates of insurance and trucking businessman Jose Uribe.

In exchange, Uribe allegedly helped Menendez and his wife buy a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible with money disguised as a loan.

In a superseding indictment, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York alleged Menendez was multitasking for Daibes — by also publicly praising Qatar to entice a Qatari sheik to invest in a property Daibes owns. In exchange, Daibes allegedly gave Menendez bribes in the form of cash and gold bars.

The initial indictment, released last September, made it seem as if Daibes made payments solely to get Menendez to intervene in a bank fraud case against the developer. Menendez was not only making calls to the U.S. attorney — but was around the same time also sending text messages to the potential Qatari investor on behalf of Daibes, prosecutors said during the trial.

Dozens of motions were filed in the months running up to the start date as attorneys for Menendez sought to dismiss evidence — including the infamous gold bars , to move the trial to New Jersey and to sever the cases of Arslanian Menendez and Menendez.

Stein allowed for little movement on most of their requests and ultimately told the attorneys to “stop wasting time” just days before opening statements in May.

While the trial was expected to last about six weeks, it has spanned more than nine, and has included testimony from federal agents, judges, the former New Jersey attorney general and Uribe, a star witness for federal prosecutors who had agreed to cooperate and pleaded guilty to seven charges brought against him in the case. Uribe awaits sentencing.

Menendez’s team leaned heavily on the defense that his wife was the mastermind and he was unaware of exactly what she was up to. Attorneys for Hana and Daibes also highlighted "gaps in evidence."

What's next for Nadine Arslanian Menendez?

Arslanian Menendez faces the same charges as Menendez. She was initially supposed to be tried alongside her co-defendants, even after requesting the trials be severed. They were eventually separated due to Arslanian Menendez's diagnosis with a serious medical condition.

Menendez later announced his wife was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. The judge has postponed Nadine's trial date until medical records are received by Aug. 16. The delay will not interfere with the Speedy Trial act. There was originally a July 3 deadline for documents.

Weeks after the first indictment, Arslanian Menendez made headlines again when details emerged of 2018 crash where she struck and killed a man while driving her Mercedez-Benz on Main Street in Bogota emerged.

While she wasn't charged in the incident, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office of Public Integrity & Accountability is investigating the circumstances of the crash.

A month after the crash, according to an indictment brought by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Arslanian Menendez was texting Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman also indicted in the bribery scheme, about her lack of car. Hana later provided her with a 2019 Mercedez-Benz C-300 convertible, the indictment says.

Will Bob Menendez still run for U.S. Senate?

The state's senior senator will still be on the ballot this November, albeit as an independent. He did not attempt to enter what was for a time a contentious Democratic primary for the chance to run but instead announced that he would focus on the trial and then the campaign.

Though Menendez wasn't involved, he loomed large over the primary process after Rep. Andy Kim announced within days of the charges being announced that he would run for Senate. A few months later, first lady Tammy Murphy threw her hat in the race as well. The two battled for ballot position at county conventions earlier this year before Murphy ultimately withdrew from the race. Kim will face Republican Curtis Bashaw and an independent Menendez this fall.

What's next for Jose Uribe?

Jose Uribe, one of the three businessmen who was originally indicted with Menendez and his wife, faced a delayed sentencing due to the postponement of Arslanian Menendez's trial.

He became the star witness and testified for several days and admitting to bribing the senator.

Uribe was initially scheduled to be sentenced June 14 but will now appear before a judge on Oct. 29. He was charged alongside the senator last fall but entered a guilty plea after making a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Uribe changed his not guilty plea to guilty on seven charges in March, including conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud.

According to a plea agreement, Uribe could face up to 95 years in prison, though he could win leniency by cooperating and testifying against the other defendants, which he’s agreed to do.

Uribe was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest service wire fraud, honest service wire fraud, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, obstruction of justice, tax evasion and wire fraud.

Uribe originally pleaded not guilty in September and was released on a $1 million personal recognizance bond secured by his residence in Clifton, and he is restricted to New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania and New York.

Uribe was asked to forfeit $246,000, representing the amount of traceable proceeds, according to court documents.

The federal indictment alleges that from 2018 to 2023, Uribe "directly and indirectly, would and did corruptly give, offer and promise something of value to a public official, and offer and promise a public official to give something of value to another person and entity, with intent to influence an official act and to induce such public official to do an act and omit to do an act in violation of the lawful duty of such official."

Specifically, Uribe allegedly requested that a business associate in the Bronx make a payment for a Mercedes-Benz convertible for Menendez and his wife on May 3, 2019. The following day, Uribe had the associate make the payment from a corporate bank account that he opened at a bank branch in the Bronx. Arslanian Menendez later sent a text message to Uribe about setting up a meeting with the three of them.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez convicted on all counts at sweeping corruption trial