It’s a “boot-load” of money.
New photographs proven at Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal bribery trial reveal over $600,000 in money and gold bars stashed round his cluttered New Jersey residence — together with a stack of payments stuffed inside a Timberland boot.
Jurors on the Menendez trial, which started final week in Manhattan federal court docket, had been proven dozens of photographs taken contained in the Backyard State Democrat’s Englewood Cliffs home throughout a June 2022 raid by the FBI.
The images, introduced in court docket Thursday, present gold bars small and huge, some showing to be older with nicks and scratches on the floor whereas others are wrapped in clear plastic packaging.
Thick stacks of money inside numerous luggage — and even a pile of cash stowed inside a well-worn brown Timberland work boot, in keeping with a report by NJ.com — may also be seen within the pictures.
Different photographs present $100, $50 and $20 payments neatly specified by grids, presumably positioned that approach by federal brokers in the course of the raid as a part of proof gathering.
Jurors additionally noticed closets stuffed to the gills with garments and belongings; a good bed room with an train bike in it, and different untidy areas contained in the modest white home full of furnishings and different objects.
Particular Agent Aristotelis Kougemitros testified Thursday about main the raid on the house the veteran Democrat shares along with his spouse, Nadine Menendez — who can also be charged within the case however received’t be occurring trial till later this yr.
Brokers discovered 13 gold bars value $150,000 and over $480,000 in money in closets, contained in the senator’s jackets and in designer luggage, Kougemitros mentioned.
Kougemitros testified that there was a lot cash within the residence, brokers struggled to tally the $486,461 value of payments by hand and he needed to name for 2 cash-counting machines to be despatched over from the FBI’s Manhattan workplace, in keeping with NJ.com.
“I used to be directed that if I seized the money, that I wanted to depend it in place,” Kougemitros testified. “So I referred to as in reinforcements.”
Menendez and his spouse are charged with a slew of corruption and bribery crimes for allegedly pocketing the gold, money, a Mercedes convertible and different luxurious items.
In trade, prosecutors say that Menendez, 70, used the ability of his workplace, together with heading the Senate Overseas Relations Committee, to dole out favors for the governments of Egypt and Qatar and for 3 New Jersey businessmen — Wael Hana, Fred Daibes and Jose Uribe.
Hana and Daibes are at present on trial alongside the senior senator whereas Uribe pleaded responsible and is cooperating with the feds.
Nadine’s trial was postponed till no less than July so she will obtain therapy for breast most cancers, together with getting a mastectomy, her husband introduced final week.
Throughout opening statements, attorneys for Menendez tried guilty Nadine, claiming she inherited the bars of gold from her Lebanese household and that her hubby didn’t even know they had been within the residence.
Protection lawyer Avi Weitzman mentioned it was part of Nadine’s household tradition to gather gold because it was typically given as items at christenings and child namings.
Equally, Weitzman mentioned Menendez shaped the longtime behavior of withdrawing money and conserving it at residence due to generational trauma he inherited from his Cuban refugee household, who misplaced the whole lot and stored what little cash that they had the place they lived.
On Tuesday, John Moldovan, the overall counsel for Hana’s halal firm, continued testifying in regards to the Menendezes’ alleged corrupt relationship with Hana.
Hana helped save Nadine’s residence from foreclosures by giving her cash for a mortgage cost, Moldovan testified. He mentioned Hana had requested him to assist disguise the cash to Nadine as a mortgage relatively than a present.
Menendez in trade allegedly took actions to assist Hana’s firm safe a monopoly with Egypt in order that any meat from the nation to the US must be licensed by Hana’s enterprise, in keeping with prosecutors.
Josh Paul, an ex-State Division official, took the stand after Moldovan to provide skilled testimony on congressional funding in Egypt.
All of the defendants have pleaded not responsible to the fees.
The trial will probably be on pause after Tuesday for every week for a Memorial Day break.
Menendez — who dodged an unrelated corruption conviction after a mistrial in 2017 — stepped down from the Overseas Relations Committee following the brand new costs.
With Put up wires
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