Former US senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey will be convicted on Wednesday for selling the rights of his office to prosperous benefactors and acting as a foreign agent of the Egyptian government-the native demonstration of how far the second democrat once fell after the release of four decade in national power rooms.
The 71 -year -old Menendez is to appear before the Federal Judge in Manhattan at 14:00 to get to know his fate. Prosecutors asked the US District Judge Sidney H. Stein to imprison Menendez for 15 years, saying that his case meant for the first time that an American official was found guilty of work on behalf of a foreign government and describing his behavior as “maybe more serious than for for What any other senator was convicted in the history of the United States. “
Menendez’s crimes wrote in court documents: “They are an amazing attempt at the highest level of the legislative unit, in order to corrupt the basic sovereign rights of the nation in relation to foreign relations and law enforcement agencies.”
Meanwhile, Menendeza lawyers asked Stein to alleviate the punishment, suggesting that any period of imprisonment should not exceed about 2.5 years. They said that Menendez devoted his life to the public service and that his belief had already ended his political career, destroyed his reputation and raised his life.
“He is sure that he never committed future crimes,” they said in court documents. “And his current state – deprived of offices and life under a constant shade of disgrace and mockery – are more than enough to reflect the seriousness of crimes and promote respect for the law.”
Menendez was convicted in July for accepting bribes, including gold, cash and Mercedes-Benz to develop the interests of three businessmen from New Jersey related to Egypt. Among other crimes, prosecutors said that Menendez lobbyed the Federal Agency to grant one of the men – Wael Hana – a monopoly on some meat exports from the United States to Egypt. Hana and another businessman, Fred Daibes, were convicted of Menendez at the trial, and the third, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and testified against them.
Prosecutors said that Menendez, once chairwoman of the powerful commission for foreign relations of the Senate, took other disturbing actions after receiving bribes, including promoting the views of the Egyptian government, informing Egyptian officials about the questions indicated that other senators can ask them, and helping the Spirit of Write A letter justifying the alleged violations of human rights that took place there.
“Menendez literally not only dealt with the side, but secretly authorized the answer in the voice of a foreign government against his own US senators,” wrote prosecutors.
In addition, prosecutors said that Menendez tried to suppress criminal investigations at the office of the Prosecutor General in New Jersey at Uribe’s request. In exchange for the facilitate of Menendez, he testified Uribe, gave his wife Menendez, Nadine, Mercedes-Benz (Nadine Menendez was also accused in this case, but she was He is still waiting for the trial Because she received breast cancer treatment).
Menendez lawyers said that when prosecutors tried to justify the “vindictive and cruel” period of imprisonment, they wrote a convicting note, which was “hyperbolic accusation filled with overheated rhetoric” and presented “a fictitious description of Senator Menendez.” They said that some Menendez interactions with Egyptian officials were much less dramatic than described by prosecutors, including sending them articles or sharing unclassified information with his wife.
Menendez gave up his place in August after a wide range of officials called him to resign. A former US representative, Andy Kim, Democrat, won the election to fill in the former Menendez mandate in November.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
