- Nadine Menendez and three associates, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to additional conspiracy charges
- New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife were first charged in September when investigators found more than $100,000 worth of gold bars in their home
The wife of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and three other defendants pleaded not guilty to revised corruption and bribery charges.
Nadine Menendez and three associates, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, entered their pleas in a New York City court on Wednesday.
In September, the New Jersey senator and his wife were accused of taking bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen to gain influence.
These allegations alleged that in March 2022, Nadine met with a jeweler with whom Hana connected her to sell two one-kilogram gold bars that she falsely claimed came from her mother.
The new indictment filed last week added a new charge of conspiring to use the senator as an agent of the Egyptian government.
Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife Nadine have been charged in an amended indictment with conspiring to use the senator as an agent of the Egyptian government.
Authorities said they found more than $100,000 worth of gold bars in Menendez’s home. In March 2022, Nadine met with a jeweler to sell some gold bars that she had wrongly received from her mother.
Menendez and his wife are accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to use his power as senator to benefit the three businessmen and the country of Egypt.
“Piling new accusations upon new accusations does not make the accusations true. The facts haven’t changed, just a new charge. It is an attempt to wear someone down, and I will not succumb to this tactic,” Menendez told Fox News digital.
‘I again ask people who know me and my record to give me the opportunity to defend myself and show my innocence.’
Authorities said they found nearly $500,000 in cash at his home, much of it hidden in clothing and closets.
There were also gold bars worth more than $100,000 in the New Jersey home Menendez shares with his wife.
The senator, who gave up his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his arrest, was excused from the proceedings until Monday due to Senate business.
Nadine Menendez left federal court Wednesday after pleading not guilty to additional conspiracy charges
Sen. Bob Menendez, left, arrived on Capitol Hill for a hearing Wednesday. He is exempt from criminal proceedings due to matters in the Senate
During Wednesday’s proceedings, the judge denied a request by Hana to remove a GPS monitoring device attached to his leg.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal opposed the request, saying that Hana, a citizen of the U.S. and Egypt, posed a flight risk because of his connections to the Egyptian government and that he had more than $25 million in assets in the had abroad.
Hana’s attorney, Lawrence Lustberg, said the device makes his client uncomfortable and that he plans to stay in the country to prove his innocence.
The New Jersey senator previously pleaded not guilty to the original bribery charges.
