Four of the gold bars that Sen. Bob Menendez hid in his home were previously stolen from a businessman accused of bribing the New Jersey Democrat, according to a report.
The serial numbers on some of the gold found by the FBI during a June 2022 raid on Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs, NJ home match identifiers that Fred Daibes reported to police after a 2013 armed robbery, according to NBC News.
Robbers made off with $500,000 in cash and 22 gold bars from the Daibes’ Edgewater, NJ, home during a 2013 heist, the outlet reported.
Police later arrested four suspects and recovered the stolen gold.
Matching serial numbers indicate that authorities have now directly linked at least some of the gold found in Menendez’s home to Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer and Menendez fundraiser.
Daibes has been accused of bribing senators for a series of favors, including helping in interfering with federal prosecutions against him.
Menendez was hit with federal bribery and corruption charges in September. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
“Each gold bar has its own serial number,” Daibes told investigators in 2014 when questioned about the stolen gold. “Everything is stamped … you’ll never see two stamped the same way.”
Daibes also signed a “property release form” to retrieve the gold, confirming the stolen item was his, according to the outlet.
Menendez, 69, was indicted on federal corruption charges in September in connection with an alleged years-long bribery scheme.
Thirteen gold bars were found by the FBI on Menendez’s property. AP
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged Menendez and his wife, Nadine, 56, with three counts of conspiracy related to what prosecutors called a “bribery deal” that benefited the couple, three New Jersey businessmen – Daibes, Wael Hana and Jose Uribe – and the Egyptian government.
Prosecutors allege that in March 2022 Daibes gave Nadine two gold bars of one kilogram each – when gold was worth $60,000 a kilogram at the time.
And Daibes’ driver’s fingerprints were later found on an envelope containing thousands of dollars in cash recovered from the couple’s home, according to the indictment.
Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting bribes from Daibes in exchange for the senator’s help protecting him from criminal prosecution in a bank fraud case. Christopher Sadowski
In all, 13 gold bars and $566,000 in cash, some stuffed into the senator’s jacket pocket, were found by the FBI during its investigation into the alleged bribery scheme.
Menendez has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and refused to resign from the Senate, despite many calls for him to do so, even from fellow Democrats.
Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting bribes from Daibes in exchange for the senator’s help protecting him from criminal prosecution in a bank fraud case.
The New Jersey Democrat allegedly helped Daibes by recommending President Biden pick Philip Sellinger, who the senator believed would bring a light touch to the case, for New Jersey’s US Attorney position.
If convicted on all charges, Menendez faces up to 45 years in prison.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
