A New York jury began its deliberations around 2 p.m. Friday in the bribery trial of Sen. Bob Menendez in New York City after a judge finished reading them instructions on the law.
The trial has played out for the past two months in Manhattan federal court, where prosecutors say Menendez and his wife catered to the needs of three New Jersey businessmen from 2018 to 2023 in return for gold, cash and a Mercedes-Benz convertible. Menendez, 70, is also charged with acting as a foreign agent of the Egyptian government.
Menendez's lawyers have argued that the senator did nothing wrong in his dealings with the businessmen and that nearly $150,000 in gold bars and over $480,000 in cash found at the couple's Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home in a 2022 FBI raid were not bribe proceeds.
Two of the businessmen, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, are on trial with Menendez. His wife’s trial has been postponed while she recovers from breast cancer surgery. All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty. Menendez did not testify.
Judge Sidney H. Stein began late Thursday to read legal instructions to the jury so jurors have a roadmap to follow during their deliberations. He resumed reading them the instructions shortly before 10 a.m. Friday. He had told them that they were likely to start deliberating around midday.
To reach a verdict, jurors were expected to sift through the testimony of numerous witnesses, along with hundreds of emails, text messages, financial records and other documents, including some which prosecutors say show that serial numbers on some of the gold bars prove that they came from the businessmen.
The jury is also expected to consider the testimony of Jose Uribe, a businessman who pleaded guilty to charges in a cooperation deal with the government.
Among witnesses called by the defense was Menendez's sister, Caridad Gonzalez, who recalled how family members fled Cuba in 1951 with only the cash they had hidden in a grandfather's clock before moving to New York City, where the future senator was born. He was raised across the Hudson River in the New Jersey cities of Hoboken and Union City.
Menendez's lawyers have argued that it was not unusual for the senator to store large amounts of cash at home given his family's history.
