BURSTFederal prosecutors recommended a 15-year prison sentence for former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who was convicted this summer of trading his political influence for bribes.
Prosecutors accused the former chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee of accepting lavish bribes — including gold bars — to act as a foreign agent of Egypt. A jury in July found Menendez guilty on all 16 counts of bribery, acting as a foreign agent and other federal corruption charges.
This is the first time a senator or public official has been convicted of acting as a foreign agent while in office, prosecutors noted.
“The defendants’ crimes amount to an extraordinary attempt, at the highest levels of the legislative branch, to corrupt the nation’s core sovereign powers over foreign relations and law enforcement,” prosecutors wrote in a memo filed late Thursday in the Southern District of New York.
The government also asked the judge to impose a sentence of at least 10 years on Wael Hana and nine years for Fred Daibes, Menendez’s co-defendants.
The three men are scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 29.
Daibes' lawyers called the government's request "completely out of line with sentences for others convicted and sentences for the same conduct" and emphasized that the 24-month sentencing they had recommended was more appropriate.
"We are pleased that the government’s memo recognizes that Mr. Daibes is the least culpable and that his generosity and selfless acts and dedication to his Edgewater, NJ community is deserving of recognition and credit (albeit they seem to refuse to acknowledge the gravity of his generosity)," Diabes' lawyers said in a statement to The Hill.
Attorneys for Menendez and Hana did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Menendez’s lawyers last week described a shorter 12-year sentencing recommendation from the court’s probation office as a “death sentence.”
“Probation’s recommended sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment would be draconian—likely a life and death sentence for someone of Bob’s age and condition,” his lawyers wrote.
“Senator Menendez has given his life to his country and to his community. With this case, his political and professional careers have ended; his reputation is destroyed; and the latter years of his life are in shambles. He is certain never to commit future offenses.”