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A number of gold bars found by federal brokers in Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s residence as a part of a high-profile bribery investigation may be traced to a violent theft a decade in the past.
In accordance with a sprawling indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors in September, Menendez and his spouse allegedly performed a job in a years-long bribery scheme that concerned the Egyptian authorities and native businessmen together with Fred Daibes, a rich New Jersey actual property developer. Prosecutors revealed they retrieved a number of gold bars from Menendez’s house which have been allegedly used as cost within the scheme.
At the least 4 of the gold bars found by investigators may be linked to Daibes, each due to their distinctive engraved serial numbers and because of courtroom paperwork associated to a 2013 theft which Daibes was a sufferer of, an NBC New York investigation revealed Monday. In November 2013, 4 assailants beat and robbed Daibes at gunpoint in his Edgewater, New Jersey, condo, stealing 22 gold bars, jewellery and money.
“Every gold bar has its personal serial quantity,” Daibes informed native investigators in a 2014 transcript obtained by NBC New York. “They’re all stamped … you’ll by no means see two stamped the identical approach.”
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An proof photograph revealed within the September federal indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., reveals a gold bar with the serial quantity “590005.” The identical gold bar was stolen in a 2013 theft. (United States District Courtroom )
Images launched by the Division of Justice in September exhibiting the gold bars found at Menendez’s house, for instance, reveal one of many bars has a serial variety of “590005.” Daibes reported a gold bar with that very same serial quantity stolen throughout the 2013 heist, NBC New York reported.
And the federal indictment notes that the serial numbers on the gold bars point out that they had beforehand been possessed by Daibes.
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“A court-authorized search of the residence of Robert Menendez and Nadine Menendez, a/okay/a ‘Nadine Arslanian,’ the defendants, revealed, amongst different issues, roughly two one-kilogram gold bars and 9 one-ounce gold bars that had serial numbers indicating that they had beforehand been possessed by Fred Daibes, the defendant,” the indictment states.
As well as, when Daibes reported the theft to police in 2013, he stated 22 gold bars had been taken. Equally, the September indictment states that Daibes bought 22 gold bars to Wael Hana, one other defendant allegedly implicated within the bribery scheme.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was indicted on bribery fees in September. He has since repeatedly claimed he’s harmless of any wrongdoing. (Getty Photographs | United States District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York)
Police finally arrested and charged 4 people for robbing Daibes in 2013, in line with native media reviews. Then, in September 2015, the suspects all ped responsible and have been finally sentenced to a number of months in jail.
In the meantime, for the reason that federal bribery indictment was unsealed earlier this yr, Menendez has repeatedly asserted his innocence and remained within the Senate.
“The allegations leveled in opposition to me are simply that, allegations,” Menendez stated Sept. 25. “For anybody who has recognized me all through my 50 years of public service, they know I’ve all the time fought for what is true. My advocacy has all the time been grounded. And what I realized from rising up because the son of Cuban refugees, particularly my mother, my hero, Evangelina Menendez. The whole lot I achieved, I labored for regardless of the nay sayers and everybody who has underestimated me.
“I firmly consider that when all of the information are offered, not solely will I be exonerated, however I nonetheless might be New Jersey’s senior senator,” he added. “The courtroom of public opinion is not any substitute for our revered justice system. We can’t put aside the presumption of innocence for political expediency when the hurt is irrevocable.”
Thomas Catenacci is a politics author for Fox Information Digital.
Gold bars stashed in Dem senator’s house recovered after 2013 violent theft
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