The New Jersey Democrat will face, among other things, charges of bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and acting as an agent for a foreign government in a scheme that unfolded for years.
Menendez, who always claimed to be innocent and would clear his name, seemed like a bucket of cold water fell upon him when he heard the verdict.
Prosecutors managed to argue that the once all-powerful lawmaker, who was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position from which he resigned when he fell from grace, attempted to use his influence to promote deals for personal gain.
The verdict came on the third day of deliberations in this legal soap opera that took more than nine weeks, during which time 37 witnesses paraded in this story of gold bullion, cash in hand and other misdeeds.
The New York Prosecutor’s Office determined that Menéndez participated in a “classic case of large-scale corruption”.
Although his image was damaged, being found guilty is like a death blow to his political career.
The senator was accused, along with his wife, Nadine Menéndez, but they are being tried separately. She is recovering from breast cancer surgery, according to local media reports.
During the police raid on the Menéndez home in New Jersey in 2022, “envelope after envelope with money” (a total of $480,000) were found in closets and inside a safe.
Added to the above are another 70 thousand dollars found in a safe belonging to his wife, as well as 13 gold bars, four of them weighing one kilogram each.
The couple caused –according to the indictment– lawyers to make false statements to federal prosecutors in New York about a Mercedes-Benz convertible and mortgage payments that would have been the result of bribes from businessmen seeking the senator’s favors.
“Robert Menéndez allegedly agreed to use his official position to benefit Wael Hana, José Uribe, Fred Daibes and the Government of Egypt in exchange for hundreds of bribes,” the accusation highlighted at the time.
Menéndez, 70, had survived a previous scandal over corrupt attitudes linked to alleged payments for political influence, but the case was dismissed in 2018. Now this guilty verdict would mean expulsion from the Senate and perhaps decades in prison. The convicted senator says he will appeal. ef/ro/dfm
