Sen. Robert Menendez spent years helping the Egyptian-American imam behind the controversial ground zero mosque — a plan the embattled Democrat later championed.
Menendez, 69, was indicted on federal bribery charges Friday, along with his wife, for schemes that allegedly benefited the government of Egypt and three New Jersey businessmen.
Starting in 1989, when the senator was the mayor of Union City, NJ, Menendez reportedly secured more than $2 million in public cash and loans for Egyptian-American imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.
The funding was meant to renovate three low-income apartment buildings Rauf owned there, according to reports — buildings that, tenants complained, remained dilapidated for years after the money was received.
At the same time, Rauf was in business with developer Fred Daibes — the Menendez political benefactor who allegedly bribed him with gold bars and cash, and who was named as a Menendez co-defendant Friday.
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is under federal indictment for alleged corruption. AP
New Jersey developer Fred Daibes, a longtime Menendez ally, is accused of showering the senator with cash and gold bars for help with his business deals. AP
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York say they found gold bars from Daibes in the home Menendez shares with his wife Nadine. Steven HirschRauf is not named in the federal indictment against Menendez and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
In 2010, when controversy erupted over Rauf’s plans to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, Menendez cheered the proposed 13-story structure.
What we know about Bob Menendez's case
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty of federal corruption charges related to an alleged years-long scheme.
Menendez accepted bribes, including gold bars, in exchange for helping three businessmen, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, as well as Egypt and Qatar, according to a federal jury.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were charged with taking hundreds of thousands in bribes, according to the Manhattan federal indictment. Their cases were separated, and hers has been indefinitely delayed because she is being treated for breast cancer.
When the feds raided the Menendezes’ Englewood Cliffs home in June 2022, they found a 2019 Mercedes C-Class, at least 13 gold bars, and $566,000 in cash “stuffed in envelopes.” Another $70,000 in cash was found in Nadine’s safe deposit box.
The feds say Menendez also received mortgage payments and paid for a low-show or no-show job and home furnishings.
This isn’t the first time the Democrat faced federal corruption charges. In 2015, Menendez was accused of taking gifts from Florida eye surgeon Salomon Melgen.
The “gifts” included a Paris vacation, flights on a private jet, and vacations at Melgen’s villa in the Dominican Republic.
That case ended in a mistrial.
“With the passions that are involved and the attempts by the Republicans to politicize it, there would never have been a good moment,” Menendez said in defense of his former ally’s project. “Sometimes leading is reminding our fellow citizens about what the Constitution is all about.”
Egyptian-American imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who tried to build a controversial mosque near the site of the World Trade Center, was a longtime business associate of Daibes and received public money from Menendez. REUTERSRauf’s prayer space, school and recreation center, which met with fierce opposition from many who lost family members in the attack on the twin towers, was never built. It was unclear if Menendez derived any personal benefit from his support of Rauf’s plans.
Calls and emails to Rauf were not returned on Saturday. Menendez did not return a request for comment. An attorney representing Daibes did not return a request for comment.
