New York (AP) – Former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez Arriving at federal prison on Tuesday, he began a sentence of 11 years in prison for accepting bribes in gold and cash, and served as an agent in Egypt. According to his own lawyer, New Jersey Democrats have been ridiculed as “Kim Bob” for their crimes.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Menandes was detained at the Federal Correctional Institution in Minasville, Pennsylvania. The facility has a medium-safe prison and a minimum-safe prison camp. Given the white-collar nature of his crimes, he is likely to enter the camp.
The prison is about 118 miles (190 km) west of New York City. It is home to about 1,200 prisoners, including former New York City organized crime boss James Coonan and former gas station boss Gurmeet Singh Dhinsa, The New York Post Called “Gas station Gotti” Because he is ruthless, violent in a way.
Menendez, 71, insists on his innocence. Last week, the federal court of appeals rejected his final effort to bail while he fought for a conviction of bribery. A panel of three judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied his bail motion.
Menendez begged for leniency, telling the judge during his January sentencing: “I am far from a perfect person. I make better than mistakes and wrong decisions. I do far more than bad things.”
Menendez also appears to be fishing for President Donald Trump’s pardon, with Republican criticism of the judicial system, especially in New York City.
“This process is political and it has undermined the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the sludge and restores integrity to the system,” Menendez told reporters after his January verdict.
On Tuesday’s social platform x Later removed, Menendez criticized prosecutors for their political motives against his foreign policy views and praised Trump for “being beyond legal fares.”
Menandez resigned last year He was convicted Sell his bribery influence. FBI agents found $480,000 in cash in his home, some stuffed into boots and jacket pockets, and $150,000 worth of gold bars, a luxury convertible in the garage.
Prosecutors said in exchange, Menendez provided New Jersey business owners with the benefits of corruption, including protecting them from criminal investigations, helping with commercial deals with foreign powers and meeting Egypt’s intelligence officials, and then helping Egypt obtain $300 million in U.S. military aid.
Menendez, who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, resigned a month after his conviction. He has been in the Senate since 2006.
Last year, two business owners were convicted along with Menendez.
His wife, Nadine Menendezconvicted in April, he joined forces with his husband to accept bribes from the business owner. Her sentence was decided on September 11.
Menendez’s lawyers described in his judgment how the son of Cuban immigrants emerged from poverty and became a “micrograph of the American Dream” (rising from the mayor of United City in New Jersey, rising in Congress, before his belief “made him a national explosion line.”
“Despite his decades of service, he is now known as Gold Bar Bob,” defense attorney Adam Fee told the judge.
