Businessman tells jury he bribed Menendez

By: Dana DiFilippo
New Jersey Monitor

..... A failed insurance broker from New Jersey told jurors in Manhattan on Friday [06/07/2024] that he bribed Senator Bob Menendez and his wife in exchange for the senator killing the prosecution of a friend and stopping an expanding criminal investigation that threatened to ensure his own company.
..... The afternoon's bombshell testimony rived the packed courtroom, as federal prosecutor Lara Pomerantz got straight to the point after Joe Uribe, a co-defendant who pleaded guilty in March [2024] in a cooperation deal, approached the stand under the steady gaze of New Jersey;s senior senator.
..... "Have you ever committed a federal crime?" she asked.
..... "Yes, I have," Bribe responded.
..... "Does that include bribery of a public official?" she asked.
..... "Yes, I did," Uribe said.
..... Uribe then told the hushed court Menendez was that public official; his wife Nadine Arslanian Menendez, accepted the bribes; and a co-defendant, Egyptian American halal meat exporter Wael Hana, was in on it, too.
..... "I agrees with Nadine Menendez and other people to provide a care for Nadine in order to get the owner and influence of Mr. Menedez," Uribe said.
..... Uribe testified his goal was twofold. He wanted to stop the New Jersey Attorney General's Office from prosecuting his friend Elvis Parra, a trucking company owner who had been indicted for insurance fraud. He also wanted to derail the expanding investigation into the company. Prestige Trucking Express, that Parra cerated afterward with his business partner Bienvendo Hernandez, as well as Uribe's insurance brokerage, Phoenix Risk Management. Phoenix secured insurance for both of Parra's firms.
..... Menendez whispered to his attorney throughout Uribe's testimony. Outside after court, the Democrat told reporters in Spanish: "Wait for the criss examination, and you'll see what the truth is. You're going to see - this has been prepared for weeks, for weeks."
..... Uribe spent two-and-a-half hours laying out how he came to meet the Menendezes and play a pivotal role in the senator's second corruption trial in the past decade.
..... The Dominican Republic native and divorced father of four told jurors he began working in the insurance industry around 1989 after he immigrated to Union City [NJ] in 1985. He started his won insurance brokerage, InterAmerican Insurance, in 2001, where he specialized in securing insurance for transpiration and construction companies, he testified. his family worked for him, he said.
..... He got charged with insurance fraud and theft by deception, lost his license, and closed the agency in 2011, he testified. he started Phoenix Risk Management soon after - illegally, cause his conviction didn't allow him to continue working in the industry, he said.
..... The new company had much of the same staff as the shuttered one and inherited allots clients, and Uribe's son Omar got a license and became tis agent of record, while Uribe continue as its general manager, he testified. When his son left two years later to go to law school in Seattle, Uribe promoted his daughter's friend Ana Peguere to the firm's agent of record, he said. Uribe and his son transfered ownership to Peguera in 2018, and Uribe told jurors they became so close he considers her a daughter.
..... He told jurors he met Hana around 2007 when Uribe secured insurance for a trucking company Hana owned at the time.
..... Their bribery scheme started in early 2018, when Hana - who shared an office with Uribe's attoeney, Andy Aslaninan - overheard Uribe talking wiht Aslanian aobut Para's case and subpoenas Uribe's firm had received in relation to the state's expanding investigation. Parra faced jail time, and Uribe told jurors he was worried about him. Parra was a good friend he met after he helped Parra obtain inter-modal motor transport insurance, which allowed Parra's company to work in the port.
..... Hana pulled Uribe into the hallway, Uribe said, and told him "For something lake $200,000, $250,000 - I don't remember the moment - he got a way to make these things go away."
..... Hana told Uribe he could go to Nadine Menendez, and she would go to the senator, Uribe said. Uribe shared details of the conversation with Hernandez because Prestige was under investigation, too, and he figure Parra and Hernandez also could benefit form Hana's offer, Uribe testified.
..... Uribe then scheduled a meeting at a Marriott hotel lounge in Teaneck [NJ] for the men to talk, he said. while Hana didn't outline how exactly the sneaker and his wife would end their criminal troubles, Uribe said, he, Parra, Hernandez, and Hana agreed to proceed with their scheme.
..... "The deal is to kill and stop all investigations," Uribe texted Hana later, to confirm terms.
..... Uribe told jurors he organized a fundraiser, at Hana's suggestion, in July 2018 in Cliffside Park to support Menendez's reelection campaign. The event, with a suggested donation of $5,000 per person, raised $50,000, he said.
.... "I am [expletive] man." Uribe texted Hana in October 2019. "the whole thing is going. Bad. I have no face to talk to my family ..... Please be sure that your friend knows about this as a last favor."
..... In court Friday, [06/07/2024] Uribe confirmed that "your friend" in that text meant Menendez.
..... Uribe met Hana and the Menendezes for dinner, but he didn't bring up his request fur the senator's help in the criminal cases " out of respect" for Hana, whew he later concluded was "looking to kiss a ** to Mr. Menendez."
..... "It was pointless," he told jurors of the dinner.
..... The state's investigation proceeded, so by March 2019, Uribe decided to take matters into his own hands, he testified. He got Nadine Arslanian Menendez's number from Aslanian and reached out to her,he told jurors.

..... Editor's note: this story was originally published by the New Jersey Monitor, for which Darn DeFilippo is a staff writer. The New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, the nation's largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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