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January 29, 2025
Former Sen. Bob Menendez, arriving for his sentencing Wednesday in Manhattan, was found guilty in July for accepting bribes in exchange for aiding foreign governments. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Bob Menendez, the former U.S. senator from New Jersey, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his conviction last year on federal corruption charges. U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein in Manhattan announced the terms Wednesday after the 71-year-old Democrat broke down in tears several times in court and said he has lost everything except his family.
"You really don't know the man you are about to sentence," Menendez said before he received his punishment.
Menendez was found guilty of 16 felony counts in July for accepting bribes – including gold bars, a Mercedes Benz and cash – in exchange for aiding the governments of Egypt and Qatar. He is the only U.S. senator who has ever been convicted of acting as a foreign agent.
"You were successful, powerful," Stein said, according to the New York Times. "You stood at the apex of our political system. Somewhere along the way – I don't know where it was – you lost your way. Working for the public good became working for your good."
Prosecutors were seeking a 15-year sentence, less than the 24 to 30 years suggested under sentencing guidelines because of Menendez's age, while defense attorneys asked for 21 to 27 months.
Earlier Wednesday, two of Menendez's co-defendants were sentenced for their participation in the bribery scheme. Fred Daibes, a businessman from New Jersey, was given seven years in prison and fined $1.75 million, and Wael Hana, who was born in Egypt but is a U.S. citizen, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison and fined $1.3 million, the Times reported.
Another defendant, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty last year and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, being their star witness in Menendez's trial.
Menendez's wife, Nadine, is also accused of being a involved in the scheme and will have a separate trial beginning Feb. 5 after it was delayed to accommodate her breast cancer treatment.
In 2015, Menendez had been charged in bribery and conspiracy for allegedly accepting bribes from a Florida ophthalmologist in exchange for political favors, but the trial resulted in a hung jury in 2017.