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The United States Senator from New Jersey, Bob Menendez, is accused by federal prosecutors of accepting racing car tickets and other gifts from Qatar as part of a corruption plot, as reported by CNN.
The Gulf State is the second foreign government the Democrat from New Jersey is accused of aiding while in office, along with Egypt. In the new indictment, prosecutors claim that Menendez's extortion and bribery plot continued to persist in 2023 as well. The official charges against a suspect are listed in the amended indictment, which was made public on Tuesday, replacing the earlier one. According to the indictment, one of the new accusations against Menendez is that he took money from his accomplice, Fred Daibes, a real estate developer in New Jersey, in exchange for leveraging his connections to assist Daibes in obtaining millions of dollars from a Qatar-related investment fund. The prosecutors claim the senator went over and beyond to assist Qatar. As part of a bribery plot, Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, Daibes, and two other New Jersey businessmen were indicted as part of a bribery scheme. To the charges, all of them have pleaded not guilty, CNN reported. "Menendez provided Daibes with these statements so that Daibes could share them with the Qatari Investor and a Qatari government officials associated with the Qatari Investment Company," the prosecutors have alleged. Notably, Menendez is accused of failing to disclose on his financial disclosure forms the gifts--gold bars and race tickets--that he received from Qatar and Daibes. Meanwhile, in August 2021, the senator sent Daibes a news statement in which he commended the Qatari government by saying, "You might want to send to them. I am just about to release," the indictment alleges, according to CNN. A few months later, in January 2022, Menendez texted the investor from Qatar, saying, "I understand my friend is going to visit with you on the 15th of the month," in advance of his meeting with Daibes in London to discuss the possible investment. He said, "I hope that this will lead to the favourable and mutually beneficial agreement that you have been engaged in discussing," according to the indictment. According to CNN, a close relative of Nadine Menendez received tickets to the 2022 Formula One Grand Prix from the Qatari official in May of that year at the senator's request. (ANI)
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