Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) unveiled 13 criminal charges against former House Speaker Lee Chatfield (R), “saying he had flagrantly misused nonprofit dollars to pay off his personal credit card and fund purchases at wineries and luxury retail stores,” the Detroit News reports.
Menendez Poised to Blame His Wife in Bribery Case
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) “is prepared to blame his wife at his bribery trial for withholding information from him about gifts they allegedly accepted from businessmen seeking favors, a newly unsealed court document shows,” Bloomberg reports.
“The revelation came Tuesday in a portion of a March court filing in which lawyers for the New Jersey Democrat asked a US judge to try him separately from his wife, Nadine. They are accused of accepting bribes of cash, gold bars and a car to help three businessmen and the Egyptian government. Menendez is also accused of acting as a foreign agent of Egypt.”
Cash at Menendez Home Was Not From His Bank
“When Senator Robert Menendez was charged last year with corruption after investigators found $486,000 in cash stashed around his house in New Jersey, he offered a simple, ‘old-fashioned’ explanation: It had been his custom to withdraw cash from a personal savings account to keep at home, a habit he learned from his Cuban immigrant parents,” the New York Times reports.
“But federal prosecutors, in papers filed late Friday, presented fresh details that they suggested undercut Mr. Menendez’s claim. Some of the cash was wrapped in bands showing it had been withdrawn, at least $10,000 at a time, from a bank where Mr. Menendez and his wife ‘had no known depository account.'”
“This, prosecutors said, indicated ‘that the money had been provided to them by another person.'”
Menendez Trial Still Set for May
“Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial will start in May — without his wife,” Politico reports.
“A federal judge on Thursday refused to delay the trial because of health issues facing Nadine Menendez, who asked to postpone the trial because of an unspecified ‘serious medical condition.'”
FBI Examining Free Airfare Upgrades Received by Adams
“Federal authorities investigating Mayor Eric Adams’s campaign fund-raising have been examining valuable flight upgrades they believe he received from Turkish Airlines that elevated him to its highest class of seats available on international trips,” the New York Times reports.
“The scrutiny is part of a broad corruption inquiry that has already led the FBI to search the homes of the former top New York-based executive of Turkish Airlines and aides to Mr. Adams, who has frequently traveled abroad and has made no secret of his affinity for flying on the Turkish carrier.”
Menendez’s Quieter Corruption
Ryan Cooper: “The sheer comical excess of the Menendez indictment illustrates how rampant political corruption is in this country. The reason people getting nailed by law enforcement for corruption tend to be people with literal gold bars and stacks of cash sewn into their jackets is because of Supreme Court decisions making it impossible to prosecute instances of corruption that are somewhat more deniable.”
“In McDonnell v. U.S., the Court unanimously overturned the conviction of a former Virginia governor and his wife who had set up meetings with officials for a pharmaceutical company while taking valuable gifts from the company’s owner. In FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate, it ruled that candidates can loan their campaigns money, and then pay themselves back with donor cash after the election is over and the victor is known—effectively opening a window labeled ‘bribes here.’ And in Citizens United v. FEC, of course, they legalized effectively limitless corporate spending in politics…”
“So while Menendez was doing the kind of idiotic corruption that actually may have run afoul of the remaining shreds of anti-corruption law, now he is taking advantage of a more subtle variety: spending his campaign money on his legal bills. Should he actually contest the Senate election this year, he is absolutely certain to lose—a recent poll found him with 75 percent disapproval among New Jersey residents—and he’s already given up on seeking re-election as a Democrat. But pretending to be running allows him to spend his remaining campaign funds on his legal defense.”
Police Raid Home of Peru’s President
“Peruvian authorities raided the home of President Dina Boluarte as part of an investigation into possible illicit enrichment after she was spotted wearing luxury watches at public appearances,” Bloomberg reports.
Trump Can Be Bought
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Menendez Pleads Not Guilty to New Charges
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) “pleaded not guilty Monday to obstruction charges contained in a new federal indictment filed in Manhattan that added to the bribery and corruption charges he already faced,” ABC News reports.
Court Revives Charges Against New York Lt. Gov
“A federal appeals court on Friday revived corruption charges against former Lt. Gov. Brian A. Benjamin of New York, saying prosecutors had sufficiently demonstrated a plan to funnel $50,000 in state money to a now-deceased developer in exchange for campaign contributions,” the New York Times reports.
Businessman Pleads Guilty to Bribing Robert Menendez
“Jose Uribe, a former New Jersey insurance broker charged in what prosecutors have described as a broad bribery scheme involving Sen. Robert Menendez, pleaded guilty on Friday in Manhattan,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Uribe had been accused of providing Nadine Menendez, the senator’s wife, with a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for Mr. Menendez’s efforts to intercede in an insurance-fraud investigation in New Jersey.”
Ex-GOP Lawmaker Pleads Guilty to Corruption Charges
As federal prosecutors were preparing to rest their case in the corruption trial of former Illinois state Sen. Sam McCann (R), the one-time gubernatorial candidate had a change of heart, Capitol News Illinois reports.
McCann reversed his position of innocence he’s held since being indicted three years ago and plead guilty on all counts.
Every Politician Has Got to Have a Hit Man
New York Times Magazine: “A Republican state lawmaker devised a bribery scheme that ended in a trial and a death — and showed why corruption has become harder to prosecute.”
Menendez and His Wife Want Separate Trials
“Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were both charged last fall in a broad federal corruption case in which they were accused of accepting cash and gold bribes,” the New York Times reports.
“Now their marriage itself is the centerpiece of a new legal argument.”
“Both Mr. and Ms. Menendez are seeking to split their case and have separate trials.”
Menendez Faces a New Charge
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) — “already accused of using his political influence to benefit Egypt — was newly charged on Tuesday with using his power to help the government of Qatar,” the New York Times report.
“Mr. Menendez was charged by federal prosecutors with accepting bribes from Fred Daibes, a prominent New Jersey developer, in exchange for the senator’s help securing financial backing from an investment fund with ties to the Qatari government.”
Gold Bars in Menendez Home Linked to Businessman
“At least four gold bars found in the FBI search of Sen. Robert Menendez’s home had been directly linked to a New Jersey businessman now accused of bribing the state’s senior senator, Bergen County prosecutor records from a 2013 robbery case show,” NBC New York reports.
“The businessman, Fred Daibes, reported to police he was the victim of an armed robbery in 2013, and he asked police recover the gold bars stolen from him. In the 2013 robbery, Daibes reported $500,000 in cash and 22 gold bars were stolen, Edgewater police records show. Police later caught four suspects with the stolen goods…”
“A decade later, the FBI said it found four gold bars with unique serial numbers in the Clifton home of Menendez and his wife Nadine.”
FBI Probe Into Eric Adams Focused on Campaign Money
“The FBI investigation into Mayor Eric Adams is focused on campaign money, favors and possible foreign influence,” CNN reports.
“Adams has a long and proud relationship with the Turkish-American community of New York City, and he has made a half a dozen trips to Turkey. The FBI is also looking into those trips and one of the locations searched on November 2 was the residence of an executive from Turkish Airlines.”
“The FBI, the sources said, is also looking into contacts with Turkish government officials in New York and in Turkey to determine if a foreign government used a web of businessmen and Turkish expats to curry favor with Adams to further Turkey’s business interests in New York – or even develop a long-term alliance with an American politician who has made no secret about having further political ambitions, including the White House.”
FBI Probes Eric Adams’s Mayoral Campaign
“Federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. are conducting a broad public corruption investigation into whether Mayor Eric Adams’s 2021 election campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations,” according to a search warrant obtained by the New York Times.
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