Former Sen. Bob Menendez began an 11-year prison sentence yesterday for a bribery scheme that saw him accept cash and gold as payouts for political favors. As reported by CBS News New York, Menendez surrendered at the Federal Correctional Institution, Schuylkill, in Minersville, Pennsylvania. This facility is set to be his residence for the next decade plus and is located roughly three hours from his previous abode in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
The 71-year-old former senator was convicted on federal bribery charges which included protecting business owners in New Jersey from criminal probes and assisting Egypt in procuring $300 million in military aid from the U.S. Menendez is entitled to receive up to 300 minutes of phone calls monthly, unlimited email, and permission to consistently see four visitors a month. The former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was found to mostly have stashed $480,000 in cash at his home, along with gold bars valued at around $150,000 and a luxury convertible, details that emerged from an FBI search, USA Today reported.
Menendez asserted his innocence up until reporting to prison, even seeking a bail option to stay free while attempts to overturn his conviction were in process. "This process is political and it's corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system," Menendez told reporters after his sentencing, CBS News New York highlighted. His alignment with Trump's critiques of the judicial system seemed to hint at a play for a presidential pardon, but that relief has yet to materialize.
Menendez's fall from grace was historic in its own grim way, marking him as the first U.S. senator to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent. His wife, Nadine Menendez, who was also convicted in the case, will be looking forward to her own sentencing scheduled for Sept. 11. She faced trial separately, partly due to a cancer diagnosis, as USA Today informs.
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