Dem Senator Accused Of Bribery Discovered To Have Robbery-Linked Gold Bars In Home

On Monday, a new report revealed that multiple gold bars found in Sen. Bob Menendez's (D-NJ) home were connected to an armed robbery that took place in 2013. According to a recent report, businessman Fred Daibes was robbed a decade ago of $500,000 and 22 gold bars in Edgewater, New Jersey. Police were later able to apprehend the suspects and return the gold bars to Daibes.

It would appear, however, that four of the gold bars found in Sen. Menendez's home have the exact same serial number as those involved in the 2013 robbery. The discovery is bad news for the embattled Democrat, given that it directly links him to Daibes, who has been accused of bribing Menedez. "Each gold bar has its own serial number," Daibes explained to the authorities in 2013, per NBC News. "They're all stamped … you'll never see two stamped the same way."

As previously reported by the DC Enquirer, an indictment against Sen. Menendez was brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York last week and alleged that the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee accepted over $700,000 in bribes from businessmen in exchange for aiding the government of Egypt via his powerful chairmanship. As the head of the Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez had significant power in determining whether or not Egypt received foreign aid.

The three men who bribed Menendez include Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes, who paid off the senator in order to enrich themselves and aid Egypt. The indictment alleges that $480,000 in cash was found at Menendez's residence last year in envelopes throughout the house. The senator's wife, Nadine Menendez, who has also been indicted, also had around $70,000 in a safe deposit box. In addition to the mountains of cash, the Democrat also accepted a luxury Mercedez Benz car and gold bars valued at over $100,000 from the men. Menendez claims that the cash found in his home was from previous withdraws over a 30-year period.

"The indictment alleges that Senator Menendez used his power and influence, including his leadership role on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to benefit the government of Egypt in various ways," U.S. Attorney for the South District of New York Damian Williams said. "Among other actions, Senator Menendez allegedly provided sensitive, nonpublic U.S. government information to Egyptian officials and otherwise took steps to secretly aid the government of Egypt."

"We also allege that Senator Menendez improperly pressured a senior official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect a lucrative monopoly that the government of Egypt had awarded to Hana, a lucrative monopoly that Hana then used to fund certain bribe payments," he added. 

Given the new evidence against Sen. Menendez, it would appear that the case against him has only gotten stronger. The direct link between the gold bars found in his home and those involved in the robbery involving Daibes could be the nail in the coffin for the Democrat senator from New Jersey.

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