Menendez is faced with a new task: aiding the Qatari government

Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey – already accused of using his political influence to benefit Egypt – was accused again on Tuesday of using his power to help the Qatari government.

Menendez, 70, was accused by federal prosecutors of taking bribes from Fred Daibes, a prominent New Jersey developer, in exchange for the senator’s help in securing financial support from an investment fund tied to the Qatari government .

“In accepting at least some of those things of value,” prosecutors wrote, Mr. Daibes “also expected that Menendez would in return take action in favor of the government of Qatar, thereby benefiting Daibes, who sought millions of dollars in investment from a fund with ties to the Qatari government.”

Lawyers for Mr. Menendez and Mr. Daibes could not immediately be reached for comment.

The new indictment expands the administration’s claims that Mr. Menendez, even while heading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, used his official position to transfer benefits to foreign governments in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. In October, prosecutors accused Mr. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, and another defendant, Wael Hana, of conspiring to have the senator work on behalf of the Egyptian government without registering with the Justice Ministry.

Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, and his four co-defendants have all pleaded not guilty. They will all go on trial in May in US District Court in Manhattan.

The new indictment also suggests for the first time that the senator and his wife took steps to cover up the alleged bribery after federal agents raided the couple’s New Jersey home in 2022.

Prosecutors specifically said that in December 2022, the Menendezes attempted to repay tens of thousands of dollars in bribes that came in the form of payments for a home mortgage and for a Mercedes-Benz convertible. In both cases, the couple created documentation describing the original bribes as loans that they were repaying, the indictment said.

Mr. Daibes was planning a major high-rise project at 115 River Road in Edgewater, N.J., but the project lost its financing after it became bogged down in a delayed environmental cleanup, court records show. In late 2022, Mr Daibes traveled to London and Qatar to meet with potential new lenders.

In January 2023, he finalized a $45 million shared ownership deal for the Edgewater project with a company founded by a member of Qatar’s royal family, the Bergen County deed shows.