New Jersey Businessman Testifies He Bribed Sen. Menendez With a Mercedes

AP Photo/Larry Neumeister

New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe testified on Friday that he bribed Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) with a Mercedes to gain access to his “power and influence.”

Mr. Uribe previously pleaded guilty to charges related to the alleged bribery scheme involving Menendez. Uribe was indicted alongside Menendez last year. The senator and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are charged with taking “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes,” including gold bars, in exchange for Menendez’s influence. The senator has denied any wrongdoing.

He was also accused in the indictment of sharing sensitive government information with Egypt.

The New York Times reported Uribe immediately admitted to a bribery scheme and started naming names beyond Menendez after taking the stand as a cooperating witness for the prosecution.

Uribe testified that Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman in New Jersey who is on trial along with Menendez, was used to funnel money to Menendez.

When he pleaded guilty in March, Uribe admitted to giving Menendez a Mercedes-Benz as a bribe. The car was allegedly given to Menendez’s then-girlfriend.

“I knew that giving a car in return for influencing a United States senator to stop a criminal investigation was wrong,” he said.

“When you bribed Robert Menendez, did you do that alone or with other people?” prosecutor Lara Pomerantz asked on Friday.

“With other people,” Uribe said.

Uribe testified that Hana told him a fraud case involving him in 2019 could go away for a sum of a quarter of a million dollars.

Jose Uribe testifies that co-defendant Wael Hana told him that he would be able to help make these New Jersey state investigations go away ,”for a sum of around $250,000″.
“He said the name Nadine Menendez and he mentioned Senator Menendez,” he testifies. pic.twitter.com/Zpas0YfNNk

— JOSH RUSSELL (@jruss_jruss) June 7, 2024

Former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal testified this week that Menendez contacted him in 2019 about having investigations related to Uribe and his associates being put on ice.