NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors showed jurors at Sen. Bob Menendez’s trial Thursday multiple instances of him probing the value of gold as he tried to help a New Jersey businessman who authorities say bribed him with gold and cash .
Evidence about the Democrat’s online searches was prominently displayed to a New York jury as prosecutors traced the history of his text messages and Internet inquiries as he allegedly tried to help Fred Dabies, a prominent New Jersey real estate developer who worked with him is on trial.
The evidence is considered crucial in the government’s attempt to prove that between 2018 and 2022, Menendez and his wife received gold bars, cash and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen who took advantage of favors Menendez allegedly made in return granted.
Menendez, Dabies and another businessman and co-defendant, Wael Hana, have pleaded not guilty. His wife, Nadine Menendez, will be tried at a later date after she recovers from breast cancer surgery. She has also pleaded not guilty.
A third businessman pleaded guilty ahead of the trial and testified against the other defendants before the trial entered its sixth week in Manhattan federal court.
The gold bars found at the home Menendez shared with his wife in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, played a prominent role early in the trial when an FBI agent described a 2022 search of the home the senator moved into after the couple moved in in 2020 was married. two years after they started dating.
The search found gold bars worth more than $100,000 and more than $486,000 in cash, some of which were in the pockets of coats hanging in closets or in shoes and boots. In the garage was a Mercedes-Benz that prosecutors say was a bribe.
On Thursday, the subject of gold came up repeatedly as another FBI agent described internet searches Menendez conducted while researching the price of gold in April 2019, twice in May 2021, again in October 2021, twice in December 2021, once in January 2022 and again in March and May 2022.
Among the searches, Officer Paul Van Wie said, were instances in which Menendez examined the value of a gram, an ounce and a kilo of gold. The agent said a search of Menendez’s internet history since 2008 revealed that the senator had never searched for gold prices in that period until April 5, 2019.
Defense attorneys have said the gold bars found in the home belonged to Nadine Menendez and that she kept the senator in the dark about gifts she accepted while she was stuck for cash.
Prosecutors tried Thursday to prove Menendez was interested in gold through emails, text messages and online searches for the price of gold as he reportedly sought to recommend a new federal prosecutor for New Jersey who could help Dabies secure a favorable outcome in to face a criminal case. against him.
The online searches also occurred when Menendez allegedly used his international influence to help Dabies secure a $95 million investment from a Qatari investment fund by taking actions favorable to the Qatari government.
Daibes has been credited with building a series of luxury waterfront buildings known as the “Gold Coast” in the New Jersey town of Edgewater.
Prosecutors on Thursday showed the jury email and text message correspondence showing that Menendez had introduced Daibes to a member of Qatar’s royal family who was a director of the investment company and had also met with Qatari officials and made public statements stating he supported Qatar while the real estate deal was being negotiated. .
After the deal was signed in May 2022, prosecutors said, Daibes gave Menendez at least one gold bar.
During the 2022 search of Menendez’s home, FBI agents found two 1-kilogram gold bars and nine 1-ounce gold bars with serial numbers showing they had previously been in Daibes’ possession, along with approximately ten envelopes of cash containing tens of thousands of dollars. with Daibes’ fingerprints or DNA, according to the evidence shown to jurors.
Evidence shown to the jury Thursday showed that in August 2021, Menendez used an encrypted messaging application to send Daibes the text of a press release praising the Qatari government, before texting Daibes: “You might want to send them to send them. I’m about to be released.”
When Menendez was indicted last fall, he held the powerful position of chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position he relinquished after being indicted. He has resisted calls, including from prominent Democrats, to resign from the Senate.
