10 months ago
Sen. Bob Menendez spoke kindly of Qatar in official proceedings to help a developer friend who paid him bribes, according to new legal filings against New Jersey's senior senator.
The new indictment adds another layer to the deep, detailed allegations that have all but cost Menendez, the former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his political career since the first indictment dropped in September.
He and his wife, who was also charged, have pleaded not guilty.
According to the latest indictment, Menendez introduced co-defendant Fred Daibes, a developer, to a member of the Qatari royal family and principal of a state-linked investment company as Daibes sought financing for a major real estate project.
While the company was considering the investment, Menendez “made multiple public statements supporting the government of Qatar,” prosecutors allege, and provided them to Daibes so he could share them with the Qatari investor and a government official from the country.
“You might want to send to them. I’m just about to release,” Menendez allegedly messaged Daibes on an encrypted app before putting out a pro-Qatari statement.
English (US)