The proof concerning the New Jersey Democrat’s on-line searches was prominently exhibited to a New York jury as prosecutors traced the historical past of his textual content messages and web queries as he allegedly tried to help Fred Daibes, a distinguished actual property developer who’s on trial with him.
The proof is taken into account essential within the authorities’s effort to show that Menendez and his spouse acquired gold bars, money and a luxurious automobile from 2018 to 2022 from three New Jersey businessmen who benefited from favors Menendez is alleged to have delivered in return.
Menendez, Daibes and one other businessman and co-defendant, Wael Hana, have pleaded not responsible. His spouse, Nadine Menendez, faces trial at a later date and is recovering from breast most cancers surgical procedure. She too has pleaded not responsible.
A 3rd businessman pleaded responsible previous to trial and testified towards the opposite defendants. The businessman, Jose Uribe, mentioned he tried to bribe Menendez by paying for a Mercedes-Benz convertible for Nadine Menendez. In return, he mentioned he needed the senator to make use of his affect to cease legal investigations into his enterprise associates.
The gold bars discovered within the dwelling Menendez shared together with his spouse in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, took a distinguished position early within the trial when an FBI agent described a 2022 search of the residence the senator moved into in 2020.
The search discovered gold bars price greater than $100,000 and over $486,000 in money, some stuffed within the pockets of coats hanging in closets, in baggage and in footwear and boots. A Mercedes-Benz was parked within the storage.
On Thursday, the subject of gold got here up repeatedly as one other FBI agent described web searches Menendez carried out when he researched the worth of gold in April 2019, twice in May 2021, once more in October 2021, twice in December 2021, as soon as in January 2022 and once more in March and May 2022.
Among the searches, agent Paul Van Wie mentioned, have been situations when Menendez researched the value of a gram, an oz and a kilo of gold. The agent mentioned a search of Menendez’s web historical past since 2008 confirmed that the senator had by no means looked for gold costs throughout that span till April 5, 2019.
Menendez’s legal professionals have mentioned gold bars discovered within the dwelling belonged to his spouse and that she saved the senator at midnight about presents she accepted when she was in monetary hassle.
Prosecutors sought to show Thursday via emails, textual content messages and the net searches for the worth of gold that Menendez was keen on gold as he allegedly sought to suggest a brand new federal prosecutor for New Jersey who might assist Daibes get a positive end result in a legal case towards him.
The on-line searches additionally occurred as Menendez allegedly used his worldwide clout to assist Daibes safe a $95 million funding from a Qatari funding fund by taking actions favorable to Qatar’s authorities.
Daibes has been credited with the development of a string of luxurious waterfront buildings, referred to as the “gold coast,” within the New Jersey city of Edgewater.
Prosecutors confirmed the jury e mail and textual content correspondence Thursday reflecting that Menendez launched Daibes to a member of Qatar’s royal household who was a principal within the funding agency and likewise met with Qatari officers and made public statements supportive of Qatar as the true property deal was being negotiated.
After the deal was signed in May 2022, Daibes gave Menendez no less than one gold bar, prosecutors say.
In the 2022 search of the Menendez dwelling, FBI brokers discovered two one-kilogram gold bars and 9 one-ounce gold bars with serial numbers exhibiting they’d beforehand been possessed by Daibes, together with about almost a dozen envelopes of money with tens of 1000’s of {dollars} bearing the fingerprints or DNA of Daibes, based on the proof proven to jurors.
One of the one-kilogram gold bars was discovered inside a Ziploc bag that had been wrapped in a paper towel, an FBI agent testified at first of the trial. In the identical closet, the FBI found a protected containing unfastened money, envelopes of money, seven one-ounce gold bars and one other one-kilogram gold bar, the agent mentioned.
Menendez’s legal professionals say the closet, which was locked, was his spouse’s and he didn’t have a key to it.
In August 2021, based on proof proven to the jury Thursday, Menendez used an encrypted messaging utility to ship Daibes the textual content of a press launch wherein he praised the federal government of Qatar, earlier than texting Daibes: “You may wish to ship to them. I’m nearly to launch.”
When Menendez was charged final fall, he held the highly effective submit of chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a place he relinquished after he was charged. He has resisted calls, together with from distinguished Democrats, that he resign from the Senate and he not too long ago introduced that he is operating for reelection as an unbiased.
