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New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe testified Friday that he bribed Sen. Bob Menendez as a part of a scheme to derail the prosecution of an affiliate and protect Uribe and his shut family and friends from being dragged right into a associated investigation.
4 weeks into the New Jersey Democrat’s corruption trial in Manhattan, prosecutors try to piece collectively, via Uribe, what they’ve described as a sprawling scheme to trade Menendez’s influence for money, gold bars and luxurious items.
On Friday, Menendez turned in his seat to see Uribe enter the court docket, then watched attentively because the businessman, who’s testifying below a cooperation settlement with the federal government after pleading responsible in March, instructed the court docket he had dedicated federal crimes, together with bribery of a public official.
Uribe named and recognized Menendez because the individual he bribed earlier than describing in broad phrases the template of his cope with the senator that allegedly concerned giving Menendez’s spouse, Nadine, a Mercedes-Benz C300 convertible.
“I (agreed) with Nadine Menendez and different individuals to supply a automotive for Nadine so as to get the facility and affect of Mr. Menendez,” Uribe mentioned, so as “to assist me get a greater decision for certainly one of my associates who was being charged in a felony matter and to cease and kill investigations that might result in my daughter and members of the family.”
The Menendezes, together with New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, are accused of participating in bribery schemes and appearing as overseas brokers for the Egyptian authorities and aiding the federal government of Qatar. All 4 have pleaded not responsible. Nadine Menendez will likely be tried individually this summer time.
Uribe’s testimony Friday linked the Mercedes, one of many principal alleged bribes, again to Nadine and Bob Menendez and provided perception into Hana’s relationship with the couple. However it isn’t anticipated to shed a lot gentle on the inside workings of different alleged bribery schemes between Menendez and Hana to profit the Egyptian and Qatari governments.
Uribe in his testimony described a sequence of conferences and exchanges, a few of them textual content messages offered to the jury, that linked an enormous array of characters who had, earlier than Friday, appeared to function in separate orbits.
The important thing preliminary dialogue, although, seems to be one he had with co-defendant Hana – a person Uribe described as being like a brother – within the hallway exterior the workplace of lawyer Andy Aslanian in 2018.
Uribe mentioned he was discussing a large number of authorized issues with Aslanian, his lawyer, when Hana, who had been listening in, pulled him apart to supply a easy answer.
“I could make the investigations go away,” Uribe mentioned Hana instructed him. The particulars, he added, had been murky, however Hana insisted that he was near Menendez and, for between $200,000 and $250,000, may parlay the connection into an association that might – as he repeatedly mentioned – “cease and kill” an ongoing felony case that Uribe frightened would quickly lead investigators to his enterprise and shut associates.
Menendez, who has sat impassively all through 4 weeks of testimony, appeared to shake his head and shoot a derisive grin at his authorized staff when Uribe spoke about his yearslong relationship with Hana.
“We thought of one another brothers,” Uribe mentioned, earlier than implicating the Egyptian American businessman in a sequence of federal crimes and describing his good friend as an aggressive, generally cloying intermediary who promised Uribe and his associates greater than he may ship.
Uribe, Hana, and enterprise companions Elvis Parra and Bienvenido Hernandez ultimately agreed to fulfill at a Marriott in Teaneck, New Jersey, the place they gathered on the finish of a resort bar to hash out a plan.
“In substance, (Hana) confirmed to all of us that he has a approach to make this investigation cease and kill(ed) if he obtained a sum of someplace between $200,000 to $250,000,” Uribe testified, including that Hana namechecked Nadine and Bob Menendez on the assembly however didn’t specify how they might assist.
Uribe ended up arranging a 2018 marketing campaign fundraiser for the senator, at Hana’s suggestion, that he mentioned pulled in about $50,000, $5,000 of which got here from his personal pockets. Menendez was up for reelection that yr, when he gained his most up-to-date time period. Menendez did not run in the Democratic primary for his seat this yr however has filed to appear on the general election ballot on an impartial line.
The fundraiser yielded money for Menendez’s marketing campaign and the form of good vibes, together with drinks and dancing at an afterparty with the senator and his spouse, that Uribe mentioned satisfied him all was going to plan. He instructed his household and buddies that their authorized points had been all however resolved.
“My understanding was that the deal was … in good phrases, that what Wael has promised can have consequence,” Uribe mentioned, telling the court docket he was assured, in that second, that “this was going to work for all events.”
However as prosecutors mentioned of their opening statements and a handful of witnesses have testified since, this quick friendship rapidly unraveled. A detective for the state Legal professional Normal’s Workplace who had been poking round Uribe’s enterprise, confirmed up at one level to interview Ana Peguero, a lady Uribe mentioned he thought of – and ceaselessly described on the stand as – his “daughter.” Peguero was the agent of document at his brokerage, he testified. The identical detective additionally traveled to Seattle, Uribe mentioned, to talk to his son, who had moved there to attend legislation faculty.
Uribe’s temper, as seen in textual content messages displayed by prosecutors, soured because the prosecution of Parra and the probe into his personal associates continued apace.
“This was not time for me,” Uribe mentioned, repeating language from a textual content message he despatched Hana in October 2018 that learn “I’m f**ked man.”
After a sequence of failed makes an attempt to jumpstart the association with Hana, together with a irritating lunch with him, Bob and Nadine Menendez through which the deal was by no means mentioned, Uribe mentioned he determined to chop out what he considered as a feckless intermediary and make contact with Nadine, whose cellphone quantity he obtained from Aslanian.
Of their preliminary cellphone name in March 2019, Uribe mentioned, “Nadine put a line of complaints about how her life was not going effectively and that almost all males that had promised her issues prior to now by no means come via.”
Hana was certainly one of them, Uribe mentioned, testifying that Nadine was notably upset that Hana had not “offered a automotive that she wished.” Their issues now aligned, Uribe mentioned Nadine agreed to an association alongside the traces he had beforehand drawn with Hana, now although in alternate for a brand new Mercedes.
Uribe, who’s scheduled to be sentenced later this month, left the courtroom with out taking a look at any of the defendants, preserving his eyes educated on the double doorways that marked the exit. Decide Sidney Stein halted the proceedings as enterprise hours got here to a detailed. Uribe will return to the stand and the trial will resume on Monday.
Menendez, seated alone because the court docket started to filter out, seemed down on the desk in entrance of him and shook his head. He then stood up, straightened his coat, and left for the weekend.
This story has been up to date with extra data.