U.S. prosecutors have revealed details of charges against Senator Bob Menendez, alleging that he helped the New Jersey businessman win investments in a company linked to the Qatari government.
Prosecutors in Manhattan said in a new charge against the Democratic senator that Menendez introduced businessman Farid Taibes to a member of Qatar's ruling family in June 2021, the newspaper said. The New York Times American.
Menendez faces charges of conspiracy to act as an unlicensed foreign broker for the Egyptian government and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from New Jersey businessmen. The senator denied the allegations before resigning as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The new indictment, filed in a Manhattan court, increases pressure on the Democratic senator, who has faced problems and resisted calls from members of his party to resign.
The Qatar-related allegation spans from December 2020 to last year, when businessman Taibes sought financing for a real estate project in New Jersey, and Menendez pitched it to a Qatari investor from the ruling family.
By the time the Qatari investor considered the matter, Menendez had made several public statements “supporting the government of Qatar,” and Daibes had asked him to share those statements with the investor and a Qatari government official not named in the indictment. to the newspaper.
Regarding Qatar…US Senator Menendez faces new charges
Senator Bob Menendez helped a New Jersey businessman win an investment with a company linked to the government of Qatar, US prosecutors said in a new indictment against the Democratic senator on Tuesday.
“Maybe you should send this to them. I'm going to release it (the report),” Menendez wrote to the tapes in 2021, with his words accompanying the unpublished report. The same day, the senator's office issued a press release praising Qatar for agreeing to host Afghans seeking asylum in the United States.
A short time later, the Qatari investor sent a message to the official that, according to the indictment, said: “I got a (f) copy,” and according to the New York Times, the letter may have referred to the tapes.
A month after the incident, prosecutors said, Teibs sent the senator several pictures of luxury watches and asked him: “What do you think of one of those?”
The Qatari firm eventually invested several million dollars in the Daibes real estate project.
The indictment did not name the Qatari investor or government official.
It is not yet clear what benefits Menendez may have offered Qatar, but he is not the Gulf state's “only friend” in Washington. According to the New York Times, “Qatar has also sought to strengthen its ties with think tanks, journalists and lecturers.”
US Senator Menendez's indictment was amended to “unregistered agent” for Egypt
Federal prosecutors in New York City have revised their charges against New Jersey U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and his wife to charges of conspiring to act as agents of Egypt and Egyptian authorities.
Reuters quoted Menendez's lawyer as saying in a statement that his client “acted absolutely appropriately in relation to Egypt and Qatar,” adding: “These new allegations change nothing, and their theories will not be subject to scrutiny by a court or jury.”
The list accuses Menendez and his wife, Nadine, of receiving gold and tickets to a Formula 1 race in exchange for Taibes' help with a real estate scheme.
Prosecutors said Menendez was “rewarded” by a Qatari official who is a relative of Nadine's offering tickets to the May 2022 Formula 1 race in Miami. Taibes also presented Menendez with a gold bar.
Daibes and Nadine were also charged and pleaded not guilty.
The New York Times noted that Taibes' attorney declined to comment, while Nadine's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Qatari embassy in Washington did not respond to a similar request.
Menendez's trial is scheduled for May 6.
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