(New York) The corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a member of the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee, opened Monday in New York with jury selection.
Since September, he has been pursuing Mr. Menendez, 70 years old, along with his wife and three alleged accomplices, who faces about twenty charges, including corruption and influence peddling for the benefit of Egypt and Qatar, as well as acting as a foreign agent. Government.
The couple was accused at the beginning of the case of accepting, between 2018 and 2022, “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in the form of bribes, in cash or gold bullion in particular, in exchange for their influence in “protecting and enriching” three businessmen from New Delhi. Jersey, the state from which he was elected, supports the Egyptian government.
The parliamentarian, who pleads his innocence, has remained deaf to calls to resign from his camp, but has given up the chairmanship of the very powerful Senate Foreign Affairs Committee at the end of 2023.
One of the three businessmen pleaded guilty in March to some of the charges against him.
The trial of the senator, born to Cuban parents who immigrated to the United States, begins on Monday along with the two other businessmen, while his wife, Nadine Menendez (57 years old), will be tried in July.
Federal prosecutor Damien Williams detailed his discovery, during a search of the couple's home in June 2022, of “piles of cash stuffed in his jacket pockets,” three kilograms of “gold bullion,” a luxury car, and numerous items. Which was part of the scam.”
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