New Jersey Businessman Admits To Bribing Sen. Bob Menendez With $250,000

On Friday, a New Jersey businessman admitted to bribing Sen. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) in Menendez’s bribery case. The businessman, Jose Uribe, said he used up to $250,000 to ensure the attorney general’s office would not investigate him.

Uribe even offered Menendez’s wife a $60,000 Mercedes Benz convertible to speak to her husband about the investigation into Uribe’s associates. “She agreed to the terms,” Uribe said about Nadine Menendez.

Uribe, who made a plea deal in March, was the crucial witness in the bribery case against the senator. Menendez denies accepting bribes, from cash to luxury items, but Uribe’s testimony contradicts the senator’s words. Uribe claims he was friends with fellow businessman Wael Hana, who, in 2018, informed Uribe that his insurance business and a friend’s trucking business were at risk of criminal investigation unless he offered $200,000 to $250,000.

Uribe told Hana he would talk to Menendez’s wife, who was not yet married to the senator at the time, and that “Nadine would go to Senator Menendez.” Uribe claims he knew his actions were wrong and that he “deeply [regrets his] actions.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz provided text messages from Uribe and Hana discussing the criminal investigations. In a text to Hana, Uriber referred to Menendez as Hana’s “friend,” asking him to stop the investigations. Former Attorney General Gurbir Grewal also told the jury on Thursday that Menendez pressed Grewal for information about the inquiry, but Grewal shut him down.

Menendez and his wife face 18 criminal counts of bribery. The couple could face up to 45 years in prison for each count if guilty. Menendez blamed Nadine for the incident in May, claiming his wife was in charge of the dealings.