Prosecutors say Sen. Menendez cashed in by linking Qatari royal family member with NJ businessman

By LARRY NEUMEISTER (Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez publicly supported the government of Qatar and enabled a member of the Qatari royal family, a principal in a company with ties to the government of Qatar, to invest tens of millions of dollars in a New Jersey businessman’s real estate project, a rewritten indictment alleged Tuesday.

The superseding indictment in Manhattan federal court did not identify the member of the Qatari royal family but said the individual was the principal of the Qatari Investment Co., an investment fund. Menendez, D-N.J., already was charged with wielding his political influence to secretly advance Egypt’s interests.

The indictment said the Qatari investor eventually negotiated a multimillion-dollar investment finalized in 2023 in the real estate project planned by Fred Daibes, one of three businessmen charged in the indictment along with the 70-year-old senator and his wife. All have pleaded not guilty.

Adam Fee, a lawyer for Menendez, said in a statement that the new allegations “stink of desperation.”

“Despite what they’ve touted in press releases, the government does not have the proof to back up any of the old or new allegations against Senator Menendez. What they have instead is a string of baseless assumptions and bizarre conjectures based on routine, lawful contacts between a Senator and his constituents or foreign officials. They are turning this into a persecution, not a prosecution,” he said.

“At all times, Senator Menendez acted entirely appropriately with respect to Qatar, Egypt, and the many other countries he routinely interacts with. Those interactions were always based on his professional judgment as to the best interests of the United States because he is, and always has been, a patriot. This latest Indictment only exposes the lengths to which these hostile prosecutors will go to poison the public before a trial even begins. But these new allegations don’t change a thing, and their theories won’t survive the scrutiny of the court or a jury,” Fee added.

Tim Donohue, a lawyer for Daibes, said he had no immediate comment.

The indictment contains new details about the relationship between Menendez and Daibes, a powerful New Jersey real estate developer. Daibes already faced federal fraud charges when he was arrested in September for allegedly paying bribes — including envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars worth more than $120,000 — to Menendez, a longtime friend.

No new charges were added to the latest version of an indictment that already charged Menendez in a bribery conspiracy that allegedly enriched the senator and his wife with a luxury car besides the cash and gold. The allegations involving Qatar occurred from 2021 through 2023, the indictment said.

After his September arrest, the senator gave up his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has resisted calls for him to resign from his Senate seat.

According to the indictment, Menendez accepted cash and gold bars in exchange for seeking to induce the Qatari fund to invest with Daibes, including by taking actions favorable to the government of Qatar.

The indictment said that while the Qatari Investment Co. was considering its investment in the real estate development owned by Daibes, Menendez made multiple public statements supporting the government of Qatar and then provided them to Daibes so he could share them with the Qatari investor and a Qatari government official.

In one August 2021 instance, the indictment said, Menendez used an encrypted messaging application to send Daibes the text of a press release in which he praised the government of Qatar, before texting Daibes: “You might want to send to them. I am just about to release.”

Two months later, Menendez and his wife returned from a trip to Qatar and Egypt and were picked up at the airport by Daibes’ driver, the indictment said. The next day, it added, Menendez performed an internet search for “how much is one kilo of gold worth.”

The Qatari Investment Co. signed a letter of intent to enter a joint venture with a company controlled by Daibes in May 2022, the indictment said. Thereafter, it added, Daibes gave Menendez at least one gold bar.

A search of Menendez’s residence produced two 1-kilogram gold bars and nine 1-ounce gold bars with serial numbers showing they’d previously been possessed by Daibes, along with about 10 envelopes of cash with tens of thousands of dollars bearing the fingerprints or DNA of Daibes, the indictment said.

The indictment said Menendez did not report any of the cash or gold received by himself or his spouse as required for a U.S. senator on annual financial disclosure forms.

In an earlier version of the indictment, Menendez, his wife and one of the businessmen also were charged with conspiring to illegally use the senator as an agent of the Egyptian government.

Judge Sidney H. Stein, who is presiding over the case, refused last week to extend a May 5 trial date after defense lawyers requested more time to prepare for a trial that they said already includes over 6.7 million documents.

In a letter to the judge late Tuesday, prosecutors said they will not need to turn over any new evidence to defense lawyers as a result of the indictment returned by a grand jury Tuesday. They also said they would have no issue with a delayed arraignment of the defendants or an arraignment by video.

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Associated Press writers Jake Offenhartz in New York and Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey contributed to this report.