Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) and his wife have been charged with bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen, federal prosecutors said on Friday.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan accused the defendants of accepting thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using Menendez’s power and influence as a senator to seek to protect and enrich the businessmen, and benefit the government of Egypt.
The news comes the day after it was reported that Menendez is under investigation for allegedly accepting gold bars from a corrupt businessman in exchange for help.
Menendez has also been under investigation for gifts he allegedly received from a company that won a suspicious contract to certify halal meat exports to Egypt. The contract attracted scrutiny because the head of the company is not Muslim and had little experience in halal certification. Investigators were probing whether Menendez, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, could have used his influence over Egypt to win the company the contract in exchange for gifts.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel in New York)
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