The list of 'kickback' cases of US Congressman Menendez is getting longer

Reuters quoted the indictment as saying that in June 2021, Mr. Menendez introduced Mr. Daibes to a member of the Qatari royal family who ran the investment company. The indictment did not name the Qatari company.

US Senator Robert Menendez and his wife Nadine Menendez during a court appearance in New York City.

Prosecutors allege that Menendez made public statements in support of the Qatari government while the Qatari company was considering investing in a real estate development project owned by Daibes. In August 2021, Menendez previewed a press release praising the Qatari government for Daibes, and in May 2022, the Qatari company signed a letter of intent to enter into a joint venture with Daibes’s company, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors allege that Menendez received early kickbacks for helping Daibes. A Qatari official gave a relative of Menendez's wife, Nadine Menendez, tickets to a Formula 1 race in Miami, Florida, in May 2022, and Daibes gave Menendez a gold bar. Prosecutors also found that in late May 2022, after having dinner with his wife and Daibes, Menendez searched on Google to see how much a kilogram of gold cost. Daibes has also been charged in the case and has pleaded not guilty. The trial is scheduled for May 6.

Previously, Mr. Menendez was accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from 2018 to 2022 to use his influence to benefit the Egyptian government. He was also accused of acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government without registering. According to the superseding indictment released on January 2, agents found more than $480,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes "and hidden in clothing, closets, and safes" when searching Mr. Menendez's home.

Meanwhile, Mr. Menendez's lawyer, Adam Fee, said on January 2 that the senator had acted "entirely appropriately" regarding Qatar and Egypt. "These new allegations change nothing and their theory will not stand up to scrutiny by a court or jury," Mr. Fee stressed, according to Reuters.

Mr. Menendez (70 years old) affirmed that he did nothing wrong, but temporarily resigned as Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the allegations were first made in September 2023. Mr. Menendez has been a senator representing the state of New Jersey since 2006, after serving as a representative for 14 years. He is considered a core member of the Democratic Party in the US Congress over the past 3 decades.

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