Senator Bob Menendez and Wife Indicted for Bribery

Puppycow

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US Senator Menendez charged with bribery, says he will not resign
The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said Menendez, 69, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and gold bars in exchange for using his power and influence as New Jersey's senior senator to benefit the government of Egypt and interfere with law enforcement probes into the businessmen.

Menendez has been an important ally to fellow Democrat Joe Biden as the president has sought to reassert U.S. influence on the world stage, rally support for congressional aid to Ukraine, and push back against a rising China.
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This isn't the first time Menendez has been charged with bribery. The last time it ended in a hung jury. Menendez issued the following statement:
"It is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat. I am not going anywhere," he said in a statement late Friday.
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He's actually suggesting that Joe Biden's justice department is targeting him because he's Latino! Doesn't make an iota of sense politically.

Senator Menendez's wife of three years at center of bribery allegations
In return for Menendez's promise to help Egypt benefit from U.S. military sales, Hana rewarded [Menendez's wife] Arslanian with a no-show job at his company and $23,000 to get her home out of foreclosure proceedings, the indictment said.

In June of 2022, officials searched the apartment Menendez and Arslanian shared in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and found more than $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in cash. Arslanian's safe deposit box contained another $70,000.

Arslanian, a registered Republican, according to voting records, is accused of setting up a company called Strategic International Business Consultants with Menendez's help to receive bribery payments.

She would tell an unidentified relative, according to the indictment: "Every time I'm a middle person for a deal, I am asking to get paid and this is my consulting company."
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His wife wasn't very good at op-sec it seems. She blabbed about it to the wrong person. Anyway, that's a hell of a lot of cash. Who keeps such sums of money lying around in cash? Someone who doesn't want it showing up in financial statements like tax returns perhaps?
 
He says "The facts are not as presented", but does not present his version.

Maybe he will, in court, but I don't see why you'd wait.
 
Orphia Nay said:
He says "The facts are not as presented", but does not present his version.

Maybe he will, in court, but I don't see why you'd wait.
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A defense attorney would tell you that the best thing to do is to say as little as possible in public. "Shut up and let your lawyers do the talking." So he's probably doing exactly what he should. He has to make some statement of denial but should avoid going into any detailed defense until in court.
 
Puppycow said:
A defense attorney would tell you that the best thing to do is to say as little as possible in public. "Shut up and let your lawyers do the talking." So he's probably doing exactly what he should. He has to make some statement of denial but should avoid going into any detailed defense until in court.
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Yeah, you're probably right. It'll be interesting to see how he and his lawyers respond in court.
 
Bribery as explicit as can be, and yet the US legal code does not allow this to be indicted as bribery. Because the SC said that technically nothing is.

Can Congress use his example to pass some "Obviously this is bribery" legislation ?
 
Puppycow said:
US Senator Menendez charged with bribery, says he will not resign

This isn't the first time Menendez has been charged with bribery. The last time it ended in a hung jury. Menendez issued the following statement:

He's actually suggesting that Joe Biden's justice department is targeting him because he's Latino! Doesn't make an iota of sense politically.

Senator Menendez's wife of three years at center of bribery allegations

His wife wasn't very good at op-sec it seems. She blabbed about it to the wrong person. Anyway, that's a hell of a lot of cash. Who keeps such sums of money lying around in cash? Someone who doesn't want it showing up in financial statements like tax returns perhaps?
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Complacency kills, be it driving a forklift or taking bribes. Hard to stay vigilant forever.
 
"Da Man tryna see a Latino as guilty!"

Christ I can't even believe he went there. Can my fair State's criminals not show a little proper pride in villainy?
 
If he actually thinks he's being targeted because he is Hispanic, then he truly is scum.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
she felt secure, as another investigation into their bribery fell through when the jury couldn't agree on a verdict.
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That's insane. That's like concluding that being saved by that tree branch when you fell of a cliff the last time means it's safe to keep rollerskating blindfold at the Grand Canyon!

This incident is making me respect Clarence Thomas for being able to get away with so much more for so much longer.
 
Hercules56 said:
If he actually thinks he's being targeted because he is Hispanic, then he truly is scum.
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Nah. It's just a cheap ruse to get the kid glove treatment.

ETA: "what? A brown man can't have a half mil in cash laying around and piles of gold bars without some whitey calling him a criminal?"
 
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hard to really blame the guy, the current SCOTUS has all but said that anti-bribery laws are illegal.

Really is impressive to actually get charged with corruption in the US, considering how much outright corrupt and self-dealing behavior has been explicitly made legal. You basically have to commit textbook quid-quo-pro corruption for it to be a crime in this ****-hole, and yet here we are.

Dude had gold ingots and cash sewn into jackets, he's like a cartoon character's version of a corrupt politician.
 
Thermal said:
"Da Man tryna see a Latino as guilty!"

Christ I can't even believe he went there. Can my fair State's criminals not show a little proper pride in villainy?
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Reminds me a bit of McGreevy's, "I am a gay American," bit. Nobody (other than his poor wife) cared that he was gay, they cared that he gave his gay lover a job for which he was unqualified.
 
Brainster said:
Reminds me a bit of McGreevy's, "I am a gay American," bit. Nobody (other than his poor wife) cared that he was gay, they cared that he gave his gay lover a job for which he was unqualified.
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"You see, Jimmy, we care about some bones you throw more than others..."
 
Thanks to Bidenomics, Senators are now taking their bribes in gold bars instead of dollars.

I just don't get the gold bars. What is the advantage to that over electronic transfers or something?
 
Donal said:
Thanks to Bidenomics, Senators are now taking their bribes in gold bars instead of dollars.

I just don't get the gold bars. What is the advantage to that over electronic transfers or something?
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Gold value traditionally increases? No bank records that an auditor might question??
 
I thought gold was actually more volatile. And its harder to move since it is heavy and hard to conceal. And there are far better precious metals and jewels. Uncut diamonds for one. This has to be he just thought is was cool to have a safe full of gold bars
 
Donal said:
Thanks to Bidenomics, Senators are now taking their bribes in gold bars instead of dollars.

I just don't get the gold bars. What is the advantage to that over electronic transfers or something?
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Perhaps he owes a debt to a pirate ghost. And pirate ghosts don't take American Express.
 
Donal said:
Thanks to Bidenomics, Senators are now taking their bribes in gold bars instead of dollars.

I just don't get the gold bars. What is the advantage to that over electronic transfers or something?
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Presumably less traceable and easier to move around assuming you don't have a lot. A single 1kg gold ingot is worth about $60,000 right now, so you don't exactly need heavy duty equipment to do a good bit of bribery in gold.

No bank clerks asking pesky questions about strange money and, assuming you don't have the feds crawling through your house, no paper trail.

But I guess the practical lessons you can learn from someone who got caught dead to rights aren't that useful. If they were good at it this wouldn't be happening to them.
 
Donal said:
I just don't get the gold bars. What is the advantage to that over electronic transfers or something?
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Traceability I assume. Something tells me there might be some tax evasion here as well as accepting bribes. I don't think he's been charged with tax evasion, yet, but if you accept a bribe, and you fail to report that income to the IRS, you have committed tax evasion as well as accepting bribes. More charges could be added, but they would need to know, and be able to prove, exactly where all that cash and gold came from and when.

Electronic transfers can be traced fairly easily whereas to trace the transfer of cash or gold bars requires some more legwork. If they can't prove that all of that cash and gold came into his possession illegally and that he failed to report it as taxable income, the case falls apart.

As far as the "Latino" thing, I was thinking about that and he could be sowing a seed hoping for another hung jury. Even if most people can see through it, if there's even one juror on the jury for whom that sort of appeal works, it could be his ticket to another mistrial.
 
They should have taken their bribes in jewelry - when worki, it's harder to get confiscated when you are getting arrested.
 
Defiant Sen. Bob Menendez speaks out after indictment, will not resign

He offers the following explanation:
"For 30 years I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account which I have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba," Menendez said. "These were monies drawn from my personal savings account based on the income I have lawfully derived over those 30 years. I look forward to addressing other issues at trial."
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So he's locking himself into a certain explanation here. If this is true, the bills in question would include some that were printed at least 30 years ago. Bank statements would also back it up. The bank(s) would have those records. This is why lawyers prefer that their clients shut up and let the lawyers do the talking. If it's really true, maybe he's OK, but I doubt it's true. This is where he could be caught in a lie. If all of those bills were printed within the last 10 years, for example, they couldn't have been withdrawn more than 10 years ago.
 
The Daily (a NY Times podcast) delves into the details of the allegations. I listened on my morning commute. It's on your podcast app too.

A lot more Democrats are calling for his immediate resignation this time compared to last time. Mostly I think that it's because the charges seem to be more serious, and the evidence more lurid and damning this time around, as well as the fact that it's now his second offense. But another reason why it might be easier for Democrats to demand his resignation is that New Jersey has a Democratic governor now (it was Chris Christie before) so that he could be replaced by another Democrat.

ETA: if you want to hear the senator sing his marriage proposal to his new wife and co-defendant, it's in there. :covereyes
 
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Puppycow said:
Defiant Sen. Bob Menendez speaks out after indictment, will not resign

He offers the following explanation:


So he's locking himself into a certain explanation here. If this is true, the bills in question would include some that were printed at least 30 years ago. Bank statements would also back it up. The bank(s) would have those records. This is why lawyers prefer that their clients shut up and let the lawyers do the talking. If it's really true, maybe he's OK, but I doubt it's true. This is where he could be caught in a lie. If all of those bills were printed within the last 10 years, for example, they couldn't have been withdrawn more than 10 years ago.
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Forget the bank records, basic history proves this wrong. His parents immigrated not fled from Cuba in 1953. Castro didn't take power until l1959. He's pedaling the same BS as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. The US back dictator Batista hadn't even seized power yet. (although him and his cronies had been cycling through the presidency)
 
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Donal said:
Forget the bank records, basic history proves this wrong. His parents immigrated not fled from Cuba in 1953. Castro didn't take power until l1959. He's pedaling the same BS as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. The US back dictator Batista hadn't even seized power yet. (although him and his cronies had been cycling through the presidency)
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Gusano stolen valor isn't on my US politics bingo card.
 
Junior senator from New Jersey Cory Booker calling for menendez to resign.
 
I suspect he is keeping his resignation as a bargaining chip in the upcomng plea bargain negotations.
 
dudalb said:
Gold Bars? The guy never heard of Swiss Bank Accounts?
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Those don't work like that anymore. Any bank that wants access to SWIFT (and they all do) has to follow very specific transparency and reporting requirements.
 
dudalb said:
I suspect he is keeping his resignation as a bargaining chip in the upcomng plea bargain negotations.
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I'm not sure the DoJ will care. unless he's hoping he can stall into 2025 and Trump wins. Then, Menendez can "See the light" and jump parties, which will coincidentally happen the day before all the charges get dropped.
 
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