Former Sen. Bob Menendez to be sentenced in gold bar bribery case

Former Sen. Bob Menendez is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday on bribery and corruption charges in federal court in New York, where prosecutors are recommending he serve 15 years behind bars.

Attorneys for the New Jersey Democrat call that recommendation "vindictive and cruel" and "a life and death sentence" for the 71-year-old former chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Menendez was found guilty in July of extortion, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent after a sensational trial where prosecutors charged that he accepted bribes — including cash and gold bars — to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

Menendez pleaded not guilty and has vowed to appeal the conviction. He's also been seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump after he was unable to get one from his former Senate colleague, former President Joe Biden, NBC News has reported.

Menendez' attorneys have pleaded with U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein to spare him jail time, noting he resigned from the Senate in August and contending he's been punished enough.

"Senator Menendez has suffered extreme public shame and upheaval, and his finances and reputation are destroyed, likely for the rest of his life. He is the butt of late-night talk show jokes, and his name will live in infamy as the first politician in history to be convicted of being a foreign agent," they argued in a court filing.

"He will live the rest of his days a social and political pariah, whether inside or outside of jail," they added.

Menendez's lawyers also contended the judge should show mercy because of his "lifetime of good deeds," including the work he's done in the Senate, and that there was no evidence that "any of the acts alleged by the government harmed anyone."

Prosecutors argue a lengthy prison sentence is a necessity given his position of power and the brazenness of the scheme.

"Menendez’s conduct may be the most serious for which a U.S. Senator has been convicted in the history of the Republic. Very few Senators have even been convicted of any criminal offense, and of those, most of the Senators engaging in bribery accepted amounts that are a fraction of what Menendez reaped," their sentencing memo said.

"Serving in the Senate should have been its own reward. If Menendez was not corrupt, it would have been. It is not something Menendez needs to be rewarded for at all," they added.

Menendez, his wife Nadine and three New Jersey businessmen were indicted in the scheme in 2023 following a lengthy investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in New York.

Prosecutors said the businessmen paid bribes to Menendez and his wife in exchange for the senator taking actions to benefit them and the governments of Qatar and Egypt. According to prosecutors, those bribes included gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz given to Nadine Menendez and more than $480,000 in cash, which the FBI found stuffed into closets, jackets bearing Menendez’s name and other clothing when the bureau searched his New Jersey home in 2022.

Two of those businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were tried trial alongside Menendez and convicted on all counts. They are scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday as well. Prosecutors are seeking a 10-year sentence for Hana and nine years for Daibes.