Washington – A businessman from New Jersey who says he bribed Senator Bob Menendez, who bought his wife a Mercedes-Benz convertible with the aim of disrupting two criminal investigations, will be questioned further on Tuesday in the corruption trial against the Democrat.
Over two days, Jose Uribe, an insurance broker and key witness for the prosecution, detailed how he says he bribed the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, to stop the New Jersey attorney general’s criminal investigation into his business associates .
Uribe is the only suspect to plead guilty in the case. The others, including the senator and his wife, have pleaded not guilty. Menendez is being tried along with Wael Hana, the owner of a halal certification company, and Fred Daibes, a real estate developer – both also accused of bribing the senator.
Uribe testified On Monday, during two meetings in August and September 2019, he directly asked the senator for help in quashing the investigations.
The first meeting reportedly came months after he said he met Nadine Menendez in a restaurant parking lot, where he claims he handed her $15,000 in cash for the down payment on a luxury convertible. He then made monthly payments on the vehicle and tried to hide his involvement in it, Uribe told jurors.
“I remember saying to her, ‘If your problem is a car, my problem is saving my family, and we agreed to help each other,'” Uribe said.
The investigations were discussed during an August 2019 dinner with the senator and his wife, Uribe testified. An employee who considers Uribe family is under investigation and a business partner has been accused of insurance fraud. The business partner eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation.
“He would look into it,” Uribe said of Bob Menendez’s response after asking him to “stop this investigation.” “I asked him to help me find peace for me and my family.”
The second meeting, Uribe said, took place over cognac and cigars in Nadine Menendez’s backyard on September 5, 2019.
The two men were alone when Bob Menendez told Uribe that he was meeting with the New Jersey attorney general at his office in Newark the next day, Uribe said.
The senator, he said, rang a bell as he sat on the table and called out to his wife, using the French word for “my dear.” She took out a piece of paper and returned inside, Uribe testified. Bob Menendez asked him to write down the names of people he was concerned about, Uribe said, recalling that the senator then folded the sheet of paper and put it in his pocket.
Uribe said he and Bob Menendez did not discuss car payments during their conversations. He assumed the senator knew about the payments, and Nadine Menendez never told him not to keep it secret.
The day after Bob Menendez met with New Jersey’s attorney general, Nadine Menendez asked Uribe to meet the senator at his apartment building. The senator told him there was “no evidence of an investigation against my family,” Uribe testified.
Uribe said he received a call from the senator on Oct. 29, 2019, when he said Menendez told him, “That thing you asked me about, there’s nothing there. I give you peace.”
Nearly a year later, the two men were having dinner when Bob Menendez told him, “I saved you twice. Not once but twice,” Uribe testified.
