US Senator
The indictment Tuesday alleges Menendez accepted bribes of cash and gold bars from developer Fred Daibes, who was seeking an investment from a Qatari fund for a real estate project. In exchange, Menendez made “multiple public statements” supporting the government of Qatar, the US said.
Prosecutors had previously accused Menendez in a four-count indictment of conspiring to act as an
Daibes expected Menendez “to use his influence and power and breach his official duty to assist Daibes” as he sought the Qatari investment, according to the indictment in federal court in New York. A Qatari official gave tickets for Formula 1 Grand Prix races in Miami to a relative of Menendez’s wife in 2022 and 2023, the US alleged.
The US had charged Menendez, 70, and his wife in September with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and a Mercedes convertible as bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, including Daibes. All five pleaded not guilty and face trial in May.
“At all times, Senator Menendez acted entirely appropriately with respect to Qatar, Egypt, and the many other countries he routinely interacts with,” Fee said. “This latest indictment only exposes the lengths to which these hostile prosecutors will go to poison the public before a trial even begins.”
An attorney for Daibes declined to comment. The Qatari embassy in Washington didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In June 2021, Daibes sought funding for a real estate project when Menendez introduced him to a Qatari royal family member who was the principal of a Qatari investment company, according to the Tuesday indictment.
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Two months later, Menendez sent an encrypted message to Daibes with a draft press release that praised Qatar, saying: “You might want to send to them. I am just about to release.” The Qatari investor then messaged a Qatari official to say “received copy from F” — a possible reference to Daibes.
In September 2021, Menendez and Daibes attended a private event in Manhattan hosted by the Qatari government. Daibes later sent the senator photos of luxury wristwatches priced between $9,990 and $23,990.
“How about one of these,” Daibes wrote, according to the indictment, which included the photos. The indictment doesn’t say if Menendez received any watches.
As with the earlier indictments, the US alleges that Daibes gave cash and gold bars to Menendez to help him seek a favorable resolution to a federal prosecution in New Jersey, where he was indicted in 2018.
The new indictment alleges that Daibes went to visit the Qatari investor in London in January 2022. Menendez messaged the Qatari investor, saying: “I hope this will result in the favorable and mutually beneficial agreement that you have been both engaged in discussing.”
Court records show that Daibes got permission from a federal judge to travel to Qatar as he sought funding for a project in Edgewater, New Jersey.
Last year, the Qatari investment company entered a joint venture with a Daibes company and agreed to put tens of millions of dollars into the project, according to the indictment. After that, the Qatari investor gave four more Grand Prix tickets to Menendez’s wife’s relative, the US said.
(Updates with Menendez lawyer’s statement in sixth paragraph)
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Anthony Aarons, Peter Blumberg
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