Fall of Bob Menéndez: from the most influential Hispanic in the US to a hell of corruption

He Senator Bob Menendez denies everything. And, in the long run, it will only be a 13-person jury that will determine whether he is guilty or not. However, the process that prosecutors in Manhattan have set up against him with the support of the FBI is a scandal. Maybe, some say, one of the most serious cases of corruption in the modern history of American politics.

And It hits, by the way, one of the Latinos who has gone the furthest in this country and close to Colombia thanks to his legislative activity.

Menéndez, 70 years old, is the son of Cuban immigrants who arrived in the country in 1953 and also the epitome of the American dream: he grew up in a poor neighborhood in New Jersey where his carpenter father and seamstress mother made many efforts so that he could be the first member of the family graduated from a university.

From then on his career was meteoric. In 1993 he was elected representative to the House for this state and from there, in 2006 he jumped to the Senate where he became one of the most powerful figures. not only of the Democratic Party but of the country thanks to his role as president of the Foreign Relations Commission.

A position he held until September of last year when the first accusations against him appeared. (Menéndez is still part of the Senate but no longer chairs the Committee).

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That month, Prosecutors accused him of receiving millions of dollars in bribes from Egypt, New Jersey businessmen and other friends. Not only for him, but for his wife, Nadine Menéndez.

But this week the prosecutors expanded the process against him and now They allege that his network of corruption and influence peddling also expanded to Qatar.

According to these authorities, Menéndez would have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, designer watches and tickets for Formula 1 races in exchange for “favors” that benefited both the businessman and the Qataris.

According to the documents filed in court, the new accusation again involves the builder Fred Daibes, the same businessman identified in the case revealed in September. Daibes, prosecutors say, was in need of funds for a real estate project after several local banks refused to provide financing.

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Menéndez, they maintain, put him in contact with an investment fund associated with the royal family of Qatar that ended up lending him $45 million.

Prosecutors allege that, in return, the senator advanced resolutions supporting Qatar and made public comments praising the country. On the other hand – you support my friend and I support you in Congress – Menéndez would have received bribes for a value not yet determined but close to one million dollars.

In a raid on his residence in 2022, authorities found more than $600,000 in cash and several gold bars worth more than $100,000.

Part of the cash was camouflaged in the senator's clothing and on envelopes where they found the fingerprints of Daibes or his driver.

The authorities also have Internet records of the Senator where he tries to find out “how much a gold bar costs” and messages with Qataris recommending the businessman.

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Likewise, communications with Daibes after the “business” with the Qataris where he offers options for watches valued between $10,000 and 25,000 dollars.

And they also presented evidence of how the Menéndezes, after the raid, tried to camouflage some of the bribes. offered as purchases that were being paid in installments.

Among them a late model Mercedes Benz that they gave to Nadine.

This adds to the accusations against the senator that had already been revealed in September and which are also high-caliber.

In that occasion, Prosecutors presented an entire targeted corruption racket whose main objective was to increase US military aid to Egypt and favor another businessman, Wael Hana, who had very close ties with the military of that country.

As in the Daibes case, prosecutors say, Menéndez used his influence in the Senate to benefit Cairo and in return would have received hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Thanks to the “favors” offered, Egypt certified a Hana company as the only importer of authorized “halal” meat (legal meat for Muslims). With which he made a fortune and from which he paid for Menéndez's intervention.

Likewise, they would have created a fictitious position for Nadine, Menéndez's wife, for which she received a monthly salary. In one of the recovered text messages, Nadine tells the senator that she is furious because she has not been given “her corresponding envelope” and asks him if she should write to Daibes to complain: “No, you should not write anything by text or email.” , he responded to the senator.

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Shortly afterward, prosecutors say, Nadine called Daibes and a couple of days later Hana's company gave her a check for $10,000 addressed to a consulting firm created in her name.

The case against Menéndez, to add, is not the senator's first entanglement with the authorities.

In 2015 Menéndez had already been accused in New Jersey of receiving, in exchange for political favors, up to one million dollars. in bribes from a wealthy ophthalmologist based in Puerto Rico.

That corruption trial ended up annulled in 2017 after the jury could not agree on the verdict.

In any case, The scandal surrounding Menéndez is a headache for Democrats that they must defend that seat in the November elections if they want to have a chance of maintaining control of the Senate where they currently have the majority but only by one seat.

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That's why, many of the figures within his own party have asked him to step aside and allow the promotion of another candidate.

But, for now, Menéndez has resisted the pressure and does not even rule out seeking re-election.

Although Menéndez has not been found guilty and is famous for his ability to reinvent himself, most believe his days are numbered.

Which would be, at a minimum, a sad end for one of the most emblematic figures of the Hispanic community in the country.

SERGIO GÓMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
In X: @sergom68