New York, Jan 30: Former US Sen. Bob Menendez was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes of gold and cash and acting as an agent of Egypt – crimes his lawyer said he’s been mocked for as “Gold Bar Bob.” The judge delivered the sentence after Menendez tearfully addressed the court, saying he’d lost everything he cared about, except his family. The Democrat resigned last year after becoming one of only a handful of US senators ever convicted while in office.
“You were successful, powerful, you stood at the apex of our political system,” US District Judge Sidney H. Stein told Menendez in a packed Manhattan courtroom. “Somewhere along the way, and I don’t know when it was, you lost your way and working for the public good became working for your good.” The ex-senator was convicted of selling his once-considerable clout for bribes worth a fortune. FBI agents who searched his house found USD 480,000, some of it stuffed inside boots and pockets of clothing, and gold bars worth an estimated USD 150,000.
Prosecutors said that in exchange for the loot, which also included a luxury car, Menendez did corrupt favours for three New Jersey businessmen. They said he tried to protect associates from criminal investigations, helped two of them in business deals with foreign powers, and also met with Egyptian intelligence officials and took steps to help that country access millions of dollars in US military aid. (AP)
