Bribery
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Former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez was the target of an ethics complaint in 2006 by Republican Party opponents which opened the door to significant charges of corruption that ended the senator’s political career. This week, Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years behind bars floated an idea of seeking a potential pardon from President Donald Trump despite being a member of the Democratic Party.
As seen on CNN, Bob Menendez was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday (Jan. 29).
At root, Menendez was convicted in 2024 on bribery and corruption charges, which included taking over six figures in gold bars, cash, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible from Egyptian government officials and three businessmen in exchange for political favors.
Menendez was once a darling of the Democratic Party and was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the height of his political career. However, the conviction on 16 felony counts has given the former senator the unwelcomed distinction of being the first United States senator to be charged and convicted of acting as an agent to aid a foreign government.
In court, Menendez made an emotional statement toward Judge Stein.
“You have before you a chastened man,” Menendez said. “Other than family, I have lost everything I ever cared about. For someone who spent his entire life in public service, every day I’m awake is a punishment.”
Menendez’s tune changed outside the courtroom when he spoke to a gathering of media.
“Only in the Southern District of New York would prosecutors allow a witness to walk away from over 10 criminal charges, including defrauding the United States government so that they can get him to lie on the stand. Welcome to the Southern District of New York, the wild west of political prosecutions,” Menendez said.
He added, “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.”
As noted at the top of the story, Menendez’s history of questionable political operations dates back to the late 1990s, and he was later indicted in 2015 on bribery, fraud, and false statement charges in connection to boosting the business interests of a Florida doctor with ties to the Dominican Republic in what would’ve benefited the doctor’s practice.
President Trump has not responded to Bob Menendez’s statement outside the court.
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Photo: Getty
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Source: Pacific Press / Getty
The former chief adviser to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and her son officially turned themselves in to face bribery charges.
On Thursday morning (December 19), Ingrid Lewis-Martin turned herself in to face corruption and bribery charges. She and her son, Glenn Martin II, were seen heading into the lower Manhattan offices of District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Lewis-Martin was the chief adviser to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, but she resigned abruptly on Sunday, citing a wish to spend more time with her family.
The charges of bribery facing Lewis-Martin include her son being given a $100,000 loan to purchase a Porsche by two businessmen after she allegedly helped them resolve an issue they encountered with the city’s Department of Buildings while undergoing construction on a hotel property they owned. A lawyer for one of the businessmen, Mayank Dwivedi, said that his client had committed no wrongdoing. Martin, 38, is a professional DJ who has gained prominence working several events through the years thanks to his mother and Adams, including events at Brooklyn Borough Hall and at City Hall. Going by the name of “Suave Luciano”, he also performed as part of the city’s “Rise Up” concert series in 2022.
Lewis-Martin’s reporting to the district attorney’s office makes her the highest-ranking city official out of a dozen to date to face charges since Mayor Adams was himself indicted on federal corruption charges in September. “I’m being falsely accused of something,” she said in a press conference. “I don’t know exactly what it is, but I know that I was told that it’s something that’s illegal, and I have never done anything illegal in my capacity in government.” The 63-year-old politician has been a staunch ally to Mayor Adams for decades, remarking that she is his “sister ordained by God.” A press conference by the D.A.’s office is set for Thursday afternoon.
The situation takes place during a week that has seen Mayor Adams undergo difficulties related to his case. On Monday (December 16), the city’s campaign finance board denied his re-election campaign $4.3 million in public funding. The following day, his request to move his April 2025 trial date up was denied by a federal judge.
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