NEW YORK (Reuters) -Former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced on Wednesday to 11 years in prison over his 2024 conviction for taking bribes including gold bars in exchange for favors for Egypt and New Jersey businessmen.
U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein imposed the sentence at a hearing in Manhattan federal court.
Menendez, a once-powerful Democrat who spent 18-1/2 years representing New Jersey in the Senate, was found guilty in July on all 16 felony counts he faced, including bribery and fraud. He was also found guilty of acting as a foreign agent, a first for a U.S. Senator.
He resigned from the Senate in August.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office urged Stein to sentence Menendez to 15 years in prison.
They say he shepherded military aid to Egypt, provided assistance to Qatar, and interfered in local prosecutions of allied businessmen in exchange for bribes including gold, cash and a Mercedes-Benz.
“Menendez, who swore an oath to represent the United States and the State of New Jersey, instead put his high office up for sale in exchange for this hoard of bribes,” prosecutors wrote in a Jan. 9 court filing.
Menendez, 71, pleaded not guilty and has vowed to appeal.
His lawyers said the former chair of the Senate’s foreign relations committee should spend no more than 2-1/4 years behind bars, citing his age, decades of public service, charitable works, devotion to family, and financial and professional ruin.
Earlier on Wednesday, Stein sentenced two convicted co-defendants. New Jersey businessmen Fred Daibes received seven years in prison and Wael Hana got just over eight years.
Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, was to be tried with her husband on corruption charges, but her trial was postponed after her lawyers said she needed treatment for breast cancer. Her trial is scheduled for March 18, and she has pleaded not guilty.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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