6 events in Passaic County with a date

Meneidez convicted on all 16 counts in corruption and bribery trail
GUILTY

By: Kristie Cattafi
and Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Senator Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts 16 charges after a months-long trial in which he and three co-defendants faced indictments on federal corruption and bribery. It was the second time in six years that Menendez faced bribery charges, but this time there was no acquittal.
..... His co-defendants, businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, where also found guilty on all counts. All three are scheduled to be sentenced on October 29. [2024]
..... The verdict for each of the 16 charges against New Jersey senior senator were read aloud in United States District Judge Sidney Stein's courtroom at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. courthouse in lower Manhattan just before 1 PM.
..... The federal indictment against Meneidez was first unsealed last September [2023] and was updated with superseeding indictments three times in October, [2023] January and March. [2024] It alleged that Menendez, his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menedez, and three New Jersey businessmen Hana, Daibes and Jose Uribe were part of a bribery scheme, Menendez and his wife allegedly received, among other things, cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for using his political influence.

Officials react

..... New Jersey Lawmakers started to weigh in immediately after the guilty verdict was made public. Representative Andy Kim, who is running for Menendez's senate seat, called for him to resign because the "people of New Jersey deserve better."
..... "This is a sad and somber day for New Jessey and our country. Our public servants should work for the people, and today [07/16/2024] we saw the people judge Senator Menendez as guilty and unfit to serve," Kim said in a statement. "I called on Senator Menendez to step down when these charges were first made public, and now that he had been found guilty, I believe the only course of action for him is to resign his seat immediately.
..... Kim's Republican opponent Curtis Bashaw said it is a "sad day" but "one that feels all too familiar."
..... "As yet another sordid chapter of New Jersey corruption closes, it;s time to say enough is enough, Bashaw said. "We can keep sending the same old career Democratic insiders to Washington and expect different results."
..... Govern Phil Murphy also issued a statement calling on Menendez to resign but took things a step further and called for the "U.S. Senate to vote to expel him." The governor said that the verdict "demonstrates that the senator broke the law, violated the trust of his constituents and betrayed his oath of office."
..... "Senator Menendez received a fair trial and due process of law as he was entitled to under our Constitution," Murphy said.
..... "I reiterate my call for Senator Menendez to resign immediately after being found guilty of engineering national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system.
..... Menendez's colleagues Senator Cory Booker also called for him to resign and said "representing pole in Congress demands the public's trust."
..... "When any elected official violates that trust, it is betrayal of the oath we take to serve the people who've elected us. without that trust, our ability to do our work and perform our duties for our constituents is compromised," booker said. "this verdict means that a jury of Senator Menendez's peers, sworn to be impartial, reviewed the evidence and unanimously concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that he had broken the law."
..... State Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco called the verdict a "sad day for New Jersey" and said he takes "no joy in the conviction of Bob Menendez" but the outcome :underscores the importance of upholding the highest ethical standards in public service and is a stark reminder that no one is above the law, regardless of their position or influence."

Menedez guilty on charges involving bribery, Egypt, Qatar

..... The indictment alleges that between 2018 and 2022, Menendez and his wife "engaged in a corrupt relationship with Hana, Uribe and Daibes" to the tune of hundreds of thousandth of dollars in bribes in exchange for Menendez using his "power and influence to protect, to enrich those businessman and to befit the government of Egypt" even as Menendez was chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
..... Gurbir Grewal, the former New Jersey attorney general, testified, during the trial. Federal prosecutors have said Menendez sought to have Grewal, the state's top prosecutor form 2018 through 2021, intervene in cases involving tow associates of insurance and trucking businessman Joe Uribe.
..... In exchange, Uribe allegedly helped Menendez and his wife Nadine Menendez buy a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible with money disguised as a loan.

Fred Daibes and gold bars

..... In a superseding indictment, the U.S. attorney for the Southern Distinct of New York alleged Menendez was multitasking for Daibes by also publicly praising Qatar to entice a Qatari sheik to invest in a property Daibes owns. In exchange, Daibes allegedly gave Menendez bribes in the form of cash and gold bars.
..... The initial indictment, released last September, [2023] made it seem as if Daibes made payments solely to get Menendez to intervene in a bank fraud case against the developer. Menendez was not only making calls to the U.S. attorney but was around the same time also sending text messages to the potential Qatari investors on behalf of Daibes, prosecutors said during the trial.
..... Dozens of motions were field in the months running up to the start date as attorneys for Menendez sought to dismiss evidence including the infamous gold bars to move the trial to New Jersey and to sever the cases of Arslanian Mendez and Menendez.
..... Stein allowed for little movement on most of their request and ultimately, told the attorney;s to "stop wasting time" just days before opening statements in May. [2024]
..... While the trial was expected to last about six weeks, it spanned more than nine, and has included testimony from federal agents, judges, the former New Jersey attorney general and Uribe,a star witness for federal prosecutors who had agreed to cooperate and pleaded guilty to seven charges brought against him in the case. Uribe awaits sentencing.
..... Menendez's team leaned heavily on the defense that his wife was the mastermind and he was unaware of exactly what she was up to. Attorneys for Hana and Daibes also highlighted "gaps in evidence."

What's next for Nadine Arisanian

..... Arslanian Menedez faces the same charges as Menendez. she was initially supposed to be tried alongside her co-defendants, even after requesting the trial be severed. They were eventually separated due to Arslanian Menendz's diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer. The judge has postpone her trial date until medical records are received with an expected deadline of August 16. [2024] there was originally a July 3 [2024] deadline for documents.
..... Weeks after the first indictment, Nadine Menendez made headlines again when details of 2018 crash where she struck and killed a man while driving her Mercedes-Benz on Main Street in Bogota emerged.
..... While she wasn't charged in the incident, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office pf Public Integrity & Accountability is investigating the circumstance of the crash and opened an investigation last year. [2023]
..... A month after the crash, according to an indictment borough by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Arsalnian was texting Hana about her lack of car. Uribe later provided her with a 2019 Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible, the indictment says.

Will Menendez still run for Senate?

..... The state's senior senate will still be on the ballot this November, [2024] albeit as an independent. He did not attempt to enter what was for a time a contentious Democratic primary for the chance to run but instead announced that he would focus on the trial and then the campaign.
..... though Menedez wasn't involved, he loomed large over the primary process after Kim said within days of the charges being announced that he would run for Senate. A few months later, first lady Tammy Murphy threw her hat in the race as well. the two battled for ballot position at county conventions earlier this year [2024] before Murphy ultimately withdrew from the race. Kim will face Republican Bashaw and an independent Menendez this fall. [2024]

What's next for Jose Uribe?

..... Jose Uribe, one of the three businessmen who was originally indicted with Menendez and his wife, faced a delayed sentencing due to the postponement of Arslanian's trial.
..... He became the star witness and testified for several days and admitting to bribing the senator.
..... Uribe was initially scheduled to be sentence June 14 [2024] but now appear before a Judge on October 29. [2024 He was charged alongside the senator last fall [2024] but entered a guilty plea after making a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
..... Uribe charged his not guilty plea to guilty on seven charges in March, [2024] including conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud.
..... According to a peal agreement, Uribe could face up to 95 years in prison, though he could win leniency by cooperating and testifying against the other defendants.
..... Uribe was charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest service wire fraud, honest service wire fraud, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, obstruction of justice, tax evasion and wire fraud.
..... Uribe originally pleaded not guilty in September [2023] and was released on a $1 million personal recognizance bond secured by his residence in Clifton, and he is restricted to New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania and New York.
..... Uribe was asked to forfeit $246,000, representing the amount of traceable proceeds, according to court documents
..... The federal indictment alleges that from 2010 to 2023, Uribe "directly and indirectly would and did corruptly give, offer and promise something of value to a public official, and offer and promise a public official to give something of value to another person and entity, with intent to influence an official act and to induce such public official to d an act and omit to do an act in violation of the lawful duty of such official."
..... Specifically, Uribe allegedly requested that a business associate in the Bronx make a payment for a Mercedes-Benz convertible for Menendez and his wife on May 3, 2019.
..... the following day, Uriber had the associate make the payment form a corporate bank account in the Bronx. Nadine Menendez later sent a text message to Uribe about setting up a meeting with the three of them.

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