Prosecutors are demanding that former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez be given at least a 15-year prison sentence following his conviction for corruption that included acting as an agent of a foreign government. In the sentencing recommendation filed late Thursday in a Manhattan federal court, prosecutors said the 71-year-old Democrat who once represented New Jersey is the first senator convicted of abusing a Senate committee leadership position and the first person convicted of serving as a foreign agent while being a public official. This “historical rarity,” they said, was a “grave abuse of his power.” Menendez’s lawyers say their client has suffered enough and have called for leniency, citing federal guidelines that would have him serving less than 27 months. Meanwhile, probation officers said their guidelines would have the senator serving from 24½ to 30½ years. Prosecutors said arguments that Menendez has been punished enough reflect a “deeply misplaced sense of entitlement.” He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 29. Menendez was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he was charged in 2023 but was forced out of that position and relinquished his Senate seat in August. He had been a senator for 18½ years. Prosecutors said in their court submissions that Menendez had, in multiple instances, promoted the Egyptian government’s viewpoints and assisted the Egyptian government in ways “directly adverse to his own fellow U.S. Senators” as he sought to adjust his own public criticism of Egypt. Menendez was convicted in July of 16 counts of corruption. An FBI raid on his home in 2022 uncovered at least $150,000 in gold bars, $480,000 in cash and a Mercedes-Benz. A large portion of the cash, prosecutors said, was the result of bribes from three New Jersey businessmen. The men had sought the senator’s protection and influence in schemes that included giving one of them, Wael Hana, the sole right to certify that U.S. meat exported to Egypt adhered to Islamic dietary requirements, forcing out other companies that had been certifying the exportations. Two of the businessmen — Hana and Fred Daibes — were convicted with Menendez. Prosecutors have called for them to spend 10 and nine years in prison, respectively. The third man pleaded guilty and testified at the trial. Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, who is facing many of the same charges as her husband, has pleaded not guilty. Her trial is scheduled to begin next month. It was delayed last year after a breast cancer diagnosis required surgery. Some information for this story came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
