Ex-US senator Bob Menendez sentenced to 11 years in prison in gold bar bribery case
The once-powerful lawmaker was accused of doing favours for Egypt and New Jersey businessmen in exchange gold, cash and a Mercedes-Benz
Former US senator Bob Menendez was sentenced on Wednesday to 11 years in prison for taking bribes including gold bars in exchange for favours for Egypt and New Jersey businessmen.
US District Judge Sidney Stein imposed the sentence at a hearing in Manhattan federal court, following Menendez’s conviction last July.
The judge ordered Menendez to begin his prison term on June 6, allowing him to attend his wife Nadine Menendez’s corruption trial starting in March.
“You were successful, powerful. You stood at the apex of our political system,” Stein said at the sentencing. “I don’t know what led you to commit these crimes.”
Menendez, a once-powerful Democrat who represented New Jersey for 18½ years in the Senate and chaired that body’s foreign relations committee, was found guilty in July on all 16 felony counts he faced, including bribery and fraud.