A Manhattan federal grand jury hit Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey with fresh corruption allegations Tuesday, accusing him of abusing his powerful position to advance Qatari government and business interests.
The feds allege Menendez helped out an associate seeking millions from a fund with ties to the Qatari government in exchange for gold bars, flashy watches, and Formula One tickets.
They also say his bribery scheme stretched over a longer period than under the original charges brought in September, which included allegations that Menendez — a Democrat and former head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — sought to advance Egyptian interests. Those charges stretched between 2018 and 2022.
The amended indictment, which doesn’t contain new charges, alleges Menendez took bribes from Fred Daibes between 2021 and 2023 in exchange for boosting the government of Qatar, which was linked to an investment fund with which Daibes sought to do business.
Daibes, one of the three businessmen charged in the original indictment alongside Menendez and his wife, signed a letter of intent to go into the venture in 2022 and officially entered into the business venture with the Qatari investment company with a final agreement in 2023, say the feds.
According to the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, the senator set up the venture by introducing Daibes in June 2021 to an unidentified member of the Qatari royal family who headed the investment firm he sought cash from.
Around the same time, Daibes was fighting bank fraud charges by federal prosecutors in New Jersey in a case Menendez is also accused of meddling in.
The senator is accused of publicly praising the Qatari government as the Qatari investment firm considered Daibes’ real estate venture. He allegedly sent Daibes a proposed news release in August 2021 praising the Qataris’ efforts to help Afghan refugees.
Menendez suggested Daibes share the release with Qatari officials and an investment firm representative. “You might want to send to them. I am just about to release,” Menendez is quoted saying to Daibes in a text message.
A month later, the feds say that Mendendez and Daibes attended a private function in Manhattan hosted by Qatari officials. Days after that, Daibes texted the senator pictures of luxury watches in the price range of $9,990 to $23,990 and asked him, “How about one of these.”
Two days after sending him the pictures of watches, the feds say that Daibes sent Menendez a link to a Senate resolution thanking Qatar that had been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and which would ultimately be approved.
Those communications between Daibes and Menendez came several weeks after Menendez returned from a trip to Qatar and Egypt and allegedly googled: “How much is one kilo of gold worth.”
When Menendez returned from that October 2021 overseas trip, the feds say, Daibes’ driver picked him up on the tarmac at Kennedy Airport.
The plan unfolded further in the following months, the feds say. In a January 2022 text message cited in the superseding indictment released Tuesday, Menendez is quoted spelling out the backdoor deal in a message to Daibes and a Qatari Investor who were to meet in London.
“Greetings. I understand my friend is going to visit with you on the 15th of the month. I hope that this will result in the favorable and mutually beneficial agreement that you have been both engaged in discussing,” Menendez wrote.
At Menendez’s request, a Qatari official in May 2022 gave a relative of Nadine Menendez tickets to a Formula One Grand Prix race in Miami, the feds say.
Later in May 2022, Daibes and the Qatari investors signed a letter of intent to work together, the indictment says. The deal was made after Daibes and Menendez met with a Qatari official and an investor in New Jersey, the feds charge — and Menendez was given a gold bar once the agreement was signed.
Three days after the deal, Menendez googled the price of gold bars again after having dinner with his wife and Daibes in Edgewater, N.J., the feds allege.
Weeks later, in June 2022, agents who executed a search warrant at Menendez’s home retrieved two one-kilogram gold bars and nine one-ounce gold bars with serial numbers tracking back to Daibes and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. The feds say those items bore the fingerprints or DNA of Daibes and Menendez.
The Menendezes were charged with bribery and corruption offenses in September for allegedly selling his influence.
The New Jersey power couple is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Daibes and two other Garden State businessmen in the form of gold bullion bars, stacks of cash, a sports car, mortgage payments, and pay for a low- or no-show job for Nadine Menendez.
In October, the feds brought a new charge alleging Menendez conspired to act as an unregistered agent for the Egyptian government behind the scenes. He and his wife have pleaded not guilty to all allegations and could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
