Money stuffed into shoes. Envelopes of bills inside jackets inscribed with Senator’s name. Gold nuggets.
On Friday, Sen. Prosecutors in Bob Menendez bribery case acquit more than 100 photos Cash and gold seized from the New Jersey Democrat’s home paint a clearer picture of the evidence shaping his high-profile bribery investigation.
Menendez is accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in bribes in exchange for official government activities.
The FBI said they found more than $486,000 in cash at his home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, which he shares with his wife, Nadine Menendez, and he faces charges. She will appear for trial separately. Both pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York entered the photos as part of their trial exhibits. Although Menendez’s home is located in New Jersey, the SDNY pursued the case because some of the senator’s misconduct was connected to New York.
Dozens of photos show stacks of bills inside bags, shoes and jackets. A photo shows a stack of bills that prosecutors say total $4,300, with his name embroidered in yellow on the senator’s Congressional Hispanic Caucus jacket.
Another photo showed a stack of $100 bills in the envelope of another jacket emblazoned with “Senator Menendez.”
Prosecutors asked an FBI agent about money found on the senator’s clothes during testimony Friday.
“What were the names on the jacket?” A lawyer asked the agent.
“Robert Menendez and Senator Menendez,” the agent replied.
“Did you see Nadine’s name on the jacket where the money was found?” asked the lawyer.
“No,” confirmed the agent.
Thousands of dollars in cash were also trapped inside the shoes. An envelope containing $7,500 was found in the right brown boot, according to a spreadsheet detailing the evidence from prosecutors. A left brown boot contained an envelope containing $7,000, the document said.
Other photos in the exhibit included stacks of cash in disposable Forever 21 and Arc’teryx bags. Some layers were rubber banded, others were tied with labels that read “$10,000.”
Prosecutors also included several photographs of gold bars, which they alleged were part of the bribe. According to prosecutors, 13 gold bars were recovered from the senator’s home. Two bars weighed one kilogram each and the others weighed one ounce each.
Menendez’s lawyer, Avi Weitzman, said in court Wednesday that the senator had no idea his wife had the gold bars, arguing that jurors shouldn’t judge someone they live with.
Nadine Menendez kept the gold bars in a closet that had no key, the senator’s lawyer said. The lawyer said he also did not know how she got the gold.
The senator defended the money found in his home, arguing that he withdrew personal money last year. For emergencies.
“For 30 years, I’ve taken thousands of dollars from my personal savings account that I kept for emergencies and because of my family’s history of confiscation in Cuba,” he said last year.
