Feds to seek 15-eyar-sentence for Bob Menendez
Former senator convicted of corruption and bribery
By: Katie Sobko
and Kristie Cattafi
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Though a decision on former Senator Bob Menendez's request for a new trial is pending, federal prosecutors are calling for the 71-year-old Menendez to spend the next 15 years in prison after he was convicted of corruption last summer. [2024]
.....
Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York are seeking a sentence of "at least 15 years for Menendez, at least 10 years for [Wael] Hana, and at least nine years for [Fred] Daibes - and significant financial penalties that reflect the seriousness of the defendants' crimes, the immeasurable harm they have caused to the public trust, and the need to deter others form engaging in such egregious abuses of power."
..... Menendez, Hana and Daibes were found guilty in July. [2024] they were convicted after a nine-week trial in a federal corruption and bribery case. They are set to be sentenced on January 29. [2025]
What did p4osecutors say?
..... In a letter to U.S. district Court Judge Sidney Stein, prosecutors said this case is the "first ever in which a senator has been convicted of a crime involving the abuse of a leadership position on a senate committee" and the first ever in which a senator - or any other person - has been convicted of serving as a foreign agent while being a public official.
..... "Even leaving aside their historical rarity, the defendants' crimes amount to an extraordinary attempt, at the highest levels of the legislative branch, to corrupt the nation's core sovereign powers over foreign relations and law enforcement,' prosecutors wrote. "The gravity of each of these promised abuses of power is only underscored by the naked greed that motivated them.
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Menendez, Hana and Daibas were found guilty on a combined 18 counts of charges including bribery, conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice. Menendez was found guilty on all 16 counts he faced.
What did the attorneys say?
..... Menendez's attorneys have asked the judge to impose a sentence that relies "heavily on alternatives to incarceration."
.....
His attorneys AVi Weitzman and Adam Fee called the recommended sentencing of 12 years Imprisonment "draconian: and "likely and death sentence for someone of Bob's age and condition."
..... "While this District has previously seen public officials sentenced in corruption cases, we submit that no defendant before this court has lived a life so overwhelmingly devoted to serving his community and his country,: Weitzman and Fee wrote. "Senator Menendez has given his life to his country and to his community."
..... Attorney;s believe Daibies' medical issues, history and characteristics, and age (67) should also play a factor in sentencing.
..... Daibes' attorney asked the court to consider 18-month imprisonment and a consecutive team of no more than six months of imprisonment,
......
Hana's attorney believes any incarceration would be :harsh punishment" but should be no more than 12 months.
What comes next?
..... The trio are still waiting for a decision from Stein on their request for a new trial after the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York discovered that it had uploaded evidence to the jury that should have been excluded. This was these second time the prosecution discovered an error with evidence on the jury's laptop.
..... The former senator was found to have received, among other things, cash, gold bars and a luxury care in exchange for his using his political influence.
..... Nadine Arslanian Menendez, the senator's wife, is still waiting for her day in court. Her trial was separated form the others due to a cancer diagnosis last spring [2024] and is set to start on February 5, [2025] though her attorney has asked for other delay.
..... In all, Arslanian Menendez faces 15 charges. During his trial the former senator's attorney blamed his wife for the scheme.