Robert
Menendez Allegedly Agreed to Use His Official Position to Benefit Wael
Hana, Jose Uribe, Fred Daibes, and the Government of Egypt in Exchange
for Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars of Bribes to Menendez and His Wife
Nadine Menendez, Which Included Gold Bars, Cash, and a Luxury
Convertible
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District
of New York, and James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the
New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”),
announced that an Indictment was unsealed this morning charging U.S.
Senator ROBERT MENENDEZ, his wife NADINE MENENDEZ, a/k/a “Nadine
Arslanian,” and three New Jersey businessmen, WAEL HANA, a/k/a “Will
Hana,” JOSE URIBE, and FRED DAIBES, with participating in a years-long
bribery scheme. The Indictment alleges that MENENDEZ and his wife,
NADINE MENENDEZ, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes
from HANA, URIBE, and DAIBES in exchange for MENENDEZ’s agreement to use
his official position to protect and enrich them and to benefit the
Government of Egypt. Among other things, MENENDEZ agreed and sought to
pressure a senior official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in an
effort to protect a business monopoly granted to HANA by Egypt, disrupt a
criminal case undertaken by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office
related to associates of URIBE, and disrupt a federal criminal
prosecution brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of
New Jersey against DAIBES. MENENDEZ, NADINE MENENDEZ, HANA, URIBE, and
DAIBES are expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan on
Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. The case is assigned to
U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As the grand jury charged,
between 2018 and 2022, Senator Menendez and his wife engaged in a
corrupt relationship with Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes – three
New Jersey businessmen who collectively paid hundreds of thousands of
dollars of bribes, including cash, gold, a Mercedes Benz, and other
things of value – in exchange for Senator Menendez agreeing to use his
power and influence to protect and enrich those businessmen and to
benefit the Government of Egypt. My Office is firmly committed to
rooting out corruption, without fear or favor, and without any regard to
partisan politics. We will continue to do so.”
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith said: “The FBI has made
investigating public corruption a top priority since our founding —
nothing has changed. The alleged conduct in this conspiracy damages the
public’s faith in our system of government and brings undue scorn to
the honest and dedicated public servants who carry out their duties on a
daily basis. To those inclined to use the status of their public
office for personal benefit, or those willing to provide bribes in an
attempt to gain influence from a public official, the FBI will ensure
that you face the consequences in the criminal justice system for your
underhanded dealings.”
According to the allegations in the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:[1]
ROBERT MENENDEZ is the senior U.S. Senator from New Jersey and
currently the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
(“SFRC”). NADINE MENENDEZ began dating MENENDEZ in February 2018, they
became engaged in October 2019, and they married in October 2020.
Shortly after they began dating in 2018, NADINE MENENDEZ introduced
MENENDEZ to her long-time friend WAEL HANA, who is originally from
Egypt, lived in New Jersey, and maintained close connections with
Egyptian officials. HANA was also business associates with FRED DAIBES,
a New Jersey real estate developer and long-time donor to MENENDEZ, and
JOSE URIBE, who worked in the New Jersey insurance and trucking
business.
Between 2018 and 2022, MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ agreed to and did
accept hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of bribes from HANA,
DAIBES, and URIBE. These bribes included gold, cash, a luxury
convertible, payments toward NADINE MENENDEZ’s home mortgage,
compensation for a low-or-no-show job for NADINE MENENDEZ, home
furnishings, and other things of value. In June 2022, the FBI executed a
search warrant at the New Jersey home of MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ.
During that search, the FBI found many of the fruits of this bribery
scheme, including cash, gold, the luxury convertible, and home
furnishings. Over $480,000 in cash — much of it stuffed into envelopes
and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe — was discovered in the
home, as well as over $70,000 in cash in NADINE MENENDEZ’s safe deposit
box, which was also searched pursuant to a separate search warrant.
Some of the envelopes contained the fingerprints and/or DNA of DAIBES or
his driver. Other of the envelopes were found inside jackets bearing
MENENDEZ’s name and hanging in his closet, as depicted below.
During this same search, agents also found home furnishings provided
by HANA and DAIBES, the luxury vehicle paid for by URIBE parked in the
garage, as well as over one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of gold bars
in the home, which were provided by either HANA or DAIBES. Two of the
gold bars DAIBES provided are depicted in the photographs below.
In exchange for these and other things of value, MENENDEZ agreed to
use his power and influence as a Senator to seek to protect HANA, URIBE,
and DAIBES’s interests and to benefit the Government of Egypt. Through
this corrupt relationship, MENENDEZ agreed to take a series of official
acts and breaches of his official duty. First, MENENDEZ took actions
to benefit the Government of Egypt and HANA, including by improperly
pressuring an official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) to
seek to protect a business monopoly granted to HANA by Egypt. Second,
MENENDEZ took actions seeking to disrupt a criminal investigation
undertaken by the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General (“NJAG”)
related to URIBE and his associates. Third, MENENDEZ recommended that
the President nominate a U.S. Attorney who MENENDEZ believed he could
influence with respect to DAIBES and sought to disrupt a federal
criminal prosecution undertaken by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
District of New Jersey (“USAO-DNJ”) of DAIBES.
Promised Actions to Benefit Egypt and Pressure the USDA
Shortly after she began dating MENENDEZ in 2018, NADINE MENENDEZ
worked with HANA to introduce Egyptian intelligence and military
officials to MENENDEZ. Those introductions helped establish a corrupt
agreement in which HANA, with assistance from DAIBES and URIBE, provided
bribes to MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ in exchange for MENENDEZ’s
actions to benefit Egypt and HANA, among others.
As part of the scheme, MENENDEZ provided sensitive, non-public U.S.
government information to Egyptian officials and otherwise took steps to
secretly aid the Government of Egypt. For example, in or about May
2018, MENENDEZ provided Egyptian officials with non-public information
regarding the number and nationality of persons serving at the U.S.
Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Although this information was not classified,
it was deemed highly sensitive because it could pose significant
operational security concerns if disclosed to a foreign government or
made public. Without telling his professional staff or the State
Department that he was doing so, on or about May 7, 2018, MENENDEZ
texted that sensitive, non-public embassy information to his
then-girlfriend NADINE MENENDEZ, who forwarded the message to HANA, who
forwarded it to an Egyptian government official. Later that same month,
MENENDEZ ghost-wrote a letter on behalf of Egypt to other U.S. Senators
advocating for them to release a hold on $300 million in aid to Egypt.
MENENDEZ sent this ghost-written letter to NADINE MENENDEZ, who
forwarded it to HANA, who sent it to Egyptian officials.
At various times between 2018 and 2022, MENENDEZ also conveyed to
Egyptian officials, through NADINE MENENDEZ, HANA, and/or DAIBES, that
he would approve or remove holds on foreign military financing and sales
of military equipment to Egypt in connection with his leadership role
on the SFRC. For example, in or about July 2018, following meetings
between MENENDEZ and Egyptian officials, which were arranged and
attended by NADINE MENENDEZ and HANA, MENENDEZ texted NADINE MENENDEZ
that she should tell HANA that MENENDEZ was going to sign off on a
multimillion-dollar weapons sale to Egypt. NADINE MENENDEZ forwarded
this text to HANA, who forwarded it to two Egyptian officials, one of
whom replied with a “thumbs up” emoji. MENENDEZ made similar
communications over the ensuing years. For example, in January 2022,
MENENDEZ sent NADINE MENENDEZ a link to a news article reporting on two
pending foreign military sales to Egypt totaling approximately $2.5
billion. NADINE MENENDEZ forwarded this link to HANA, writing, “Bob had
to sign off on this.”
In exchange for MENENDEZ’s agreement to take these and other actions,
HANA promised NADINE MENENDEZ payments, including from IS EG Halal
Certified, Inc. (“IS EG Halal”), a New Jersey company that HANA operated
with financial support and backing from DAIBES. However, IS EG Halal
had little to no revenue until the spring of 2019, when the Government
of Egypt granted IS EG Halal a monopoly on the certification of U.S.
food exports to Egypt as compliant with halal standards, despite the
fact that neither HANA nor his company had experience with halal
certification. The monopoly generated revenue for HANA, through which
he paid NADINE MENENDEZ as promised.
Because the monopoly resulted in increased costs for U.S. meat
suppliers, in or about April and May 2019, the USDA contacted the
Government of Egypt and sought reconsideration of its grant of monopoly
rights to IS EG Halal. After being briefed on the USDA’s objections to
IS EG Halal’s monopoly by HANA and NADINE MENENDEZ, on May 23, 2019,
MENENDEZ called a high-level USDA official (“Official-1”) and insisted
that the USDA stop opposing IS EG Halal’s status as sole halal
certifier. When Official-1 attempted to explain why the monopoly was
detrimental to U.S. interests, MENENDEZ reiterated his demand that the
USDA stop interfering with IS EG Halal’s monopoly. Official-1 did not
accede to MENENDEZ’s demand, but IS EG Halal nevertheless kept its
monopoly.
After financially benefitting from IS EG Halal’s monopoly, HANA, at
times with the assistance of DAIBES and URIBE, provided payments and
other things of value in furtherance of the scheme. For example, in or
about July 2019, after the mortgage company for the residence of NADINE
MENENDEZ initiated foreclosure proceedings, HANA caused IS EG Halal to
pay approximately $23,000 to bring the mortgage current. HANA did so
after a series of discussions with NADINE MENENDEZ, as well as URIBE and
DAIBES, about various options for bringing the mortgage current. Later
in 2019, HANA and DAIBES caused IS EG Halal to issue three $10,000
checks to NADINE MENENDEZ for a low-or-no-show job. As the scheme
continued, including through the additional actions described below,
MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ received additional bribes, including gold
and cash.
Promised Actions Seeking to Disrupt the NJAG Criminal Case
Also in 2019, HANA and URIBE offered to help buy a new Mercedes-Benz
C-300 convertible worth more than $60,000 for MENENDEZ and NADINE
MENENDEZ. In exchange, MENENDEZ agreed and sought to interfere in the
NJAG’s criminal insurance fraud prosecution of an associate of URIBE and
a related investigation involving an employee of URIBE. On multiple
occasions in 2019, URIBE, HANA, and/or NADINE MENENDEZ briefed MENENDEZ
regarding the NJAG’s insurance fraud prosecution and investigation.
Following those briefings, and in exchange for the promise of the luxury
convertible, MENENDEZ contacted a senior state prosecutor at the NJAG’s
Office who supervised the prosecution and investigation (“Official-2”)
at least twice. During those communications, MENENDEZ attempted to
pressure Official-2 to resolve the prosecution more favorably to the
defendant. Official-2 considered MENENDEZ’s actions inappropriate and
did not agree to intervene. Nevertheless, the prosecution was
ultimately resolved with a plea allowing for no jail time and the
investigation never resulted in any charges against URIBE’s employee.
In exchange for MENENDEZ’s actions, URIBE provided NADINE MENENDEZ
with $15,000 cash for the down payment on the luxury convertible in
April 2019. After the purchase was complete, NADINE MENENDEZ messaged
MENENDEZ, “Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we are the proud owners
of a 2019 Mercedes.❤️” and texted MENENDEZ the below photograph of the
convertible:
Thereafter, URIBE made monthly payments to Mercedes-Benz for the
convertible between 2019 and June 2022. URIBE only stopped making those
monthly payments after the FBI approached MENENDEZ, NADINE MENENDEZ,
and URIBE in connection with this investigation.
Promised Actions Seeking to Disrupt the USAO-DNJ Criminal Case
In October 2018, the USAO-DNJ charged DAIBES with federal criminal
charges for obtaining loans under false pretenses from a New
Jersey-based bank he founded. Between December 2020 and 2022, MENENDEZ
agreed to attempt to influence the pending federal prosecution of DAIBES
in exchange for cash, furniture, and gold bars that DAIBES provided to
MENENDEZ and NADINE MENDENDEZ. In furtherance of this aspect of the
scheme, MENENDEZ recommended that the President nominate an individual
(“Official-3”) as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey who
MENENDEZ believed he could influence with respect to DAIBES’s case.
MENENDEZ also had direct and indirect contact with both Official-3 and
another high-ranking official at the USAO-DNJ (“Official-4”) in an
attempt to influence the outcome of DAIBES’s case.
Official-3 and Official-4 did not pass on to the USAO-DNJ prosecution
team handling the DAIBES prosecution the fact that MENENDEZ had
contacted them, and they did not treat the case any differently as a
result of MENENDEZ’s actions. DAIBES’s case was ultimately resolved
with a plea agreement that provided for a probationary sentence. In
exchange for MENENDEZ’s participation in the bribery scheme, DAIBES
provided MENENDEZ and NADINE MENENDEZ with multiple things of value,
including the two one-kilogram gold bars pictured below.
* * *
ROBERT MENENDEZ, 69, of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, is charged with
one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, which carries a maximum
sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit
honest services fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in
prison; and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of
official right, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
NADINE MENENDEZ, 56, of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, is charged with
one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, which carries a maximum
sentence of five years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit
honest services fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in
prison; and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion under color of
official right, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
WAEL HANA, 40, formerly of Edgewater, New Jersey, and originally of
Egypt, JOSE URIBE, 56, of Clifton, New Jersey, and FRED DAIBES, 66, of
Edgewater, New Jersey, are all charged with one count of conspiracy to
commit bribery, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in
prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud,
which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are
provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the
defendants would be determined by a judge.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.
Mr. Williams thanked the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation
for its invaluable assistance on the investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eli J. Mark, Paul Monteleoni, Lara Pomerantz,
and Daniel C. Richenthal are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and
the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This investigation remains ongoing. If you have information
regarding the charges or defendants in the Indictment, please contact
the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI and reference this case.
[1]
As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the
Indictment and the description of the Indictment set forth herein
constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated
as an allegation.
