Current:Home > MyNew Jersey businessman pleads guilty and agrees to cooperate in case against Sen. Bob Menendez-LoTradeCoin
New Jersey businessman pleads guilty and agrees to cooperate in case against Sen. Bob Menendez
View Date:2024-12-23 19:40:54
NEW YORK (AP) — A New Jersey businessman pleaded guilty Friday to trying to bribe U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, after signing a cooperation deal with prosecutors.
Jose Uribe entered the plea in Manhattan federal court to seven charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services wire fraud, obstruction of justice and tax evasion. Prosecutors allege that he gave Menendez’s wife a Mercedes-Benz.
According to a plea agreement, Uribe could face up to 95 years in prison, though he could win leniency by cooperating and testifying against the other defendants, which he’s agreed to do.
Uribe was among three businessmen charged in the corruption case against the New Jersey Democrat and his wife, Nadine Menendez, which was revealed early last fall. Authorities say Menendez and his wife accepted bribes of cash, gold bars and the luxury car in exchange for his help and influence over foreign affairs.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Uribe had been charged with providing Menendez’s wife with a Mercedes-Benz convertible after the senator called a government official about another case involving an associate of Uribe.
Uribe’s attorney, Daniel Fetterman, declined to comment.
Menendez, his wife and the two other New Jersey businessmen are scheduled to go on trial in May.
Federal prosecutors allege that Menendez, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, used his position to take actions that benefited foreign governments in exchange for bribes paid by associates in New Jersey.
An indictment contends that Menendez and his wife took gold bars and cash from a real estate developer, and that the senator used his clout to get that businessman a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund.
Menendez is also accused of helping another New Jersey business associate get a lucrative deal with the government of Egypt. Prosecutors allege that in exchange for bribes, Menendez did things that benefited Egypt, including ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators encouraging them to lift a hold on $300 million in aid.
Uribe was accused of buying a luxury car for Nadine Menendez after her previous car was destroyed when she struck and killed a man crossing the street. She did not face criminal charges in connection with that crash.
The indictment says the senator helped Uribe by trying to persuade prosecutors to go easy on one of his business associates who was the subject of a criminal investigation.
veryGood! (3977)
Related
- Record-setting dry conditions threaten more US wildfires, drinking water supplies
- Inside Clean Energy: The Solar Boom Arrives in Ohio
- 3 congressmen working high-stakes jobs at a high-stakes moment — while being treated for cancer
- How Much Did Ancient Land-Clearing Fires in New Zealand Affect the Climate?
- See Chris Evans' Wife Alba Baptista Show Her Sweet Support at Red One Premiere
- The Enigmatic ‘Climate Chancellor’ Pulls Off a Grand Finale
- California woman released by captors nearly 8 months after being kidnapped in Mexico
- Inside Clean Energy: Arizona’s Net-Zero Plan Unites Democrats and Republicans
- Messi breaks silence on Inter Miami's playoff exit. What's next for his time in the US?
- At least 3 dead in Pennsylvania flash flooding
Ranking
- Texas’ 90,000 DACA recipients can sign up for Affordable Care Act coverage — for now
- Kate Spade 24-Hour Flash Deal: Get This $250 Crossbody Bag for Just $79
- Tens of millions across U.S. continue to endure scorching temperatures: Everyone needs to take this heat seriously
- Full transcript of Face the Nation, July 16, 2023
- As US Catholic bishops meet, Trump looms over their work on abortion and immigration
- Arby's+? More restaurants try subscription programs to keep eaters coming back
- Many U.K. grocers limit some fruit and veggie sales as extreme weather impacts supply
- Warming Trends: New Rules for California Waste, Declining Koala Bears and Designs Meant to Help the Planet
Recommendation
-
Prayers and cheeseburgers? Chiefs have unlikely fuel for inexplicable run
-
Inside Clean Energy: Here Are 3 States to Watch in 2021
-
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. condemned over false claims that COVID-19 was ethnically targeted
-
Trains, Walking, Biking: Why Germany Needs to Look Beyond Cars
-
Brian Austin Green’s Fiancée Sharna Burgess Celebrates Megan Fox’s Pregnancy News
-
Cartoonists say a rebuke of 'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams is long overdue
-
The Voice Announces 2 New Coaches for Season 25 in Surprise Twist
-
A Deadly Summer in the Pacific Northwest Augurs More Heat Waves, and More Deaths to Come