New photos admitted as evidence in the United States v. Menendez trial shed light on what federal agents found when they raided the New Jersey senator’s home.
Nearly $500,000 in cash and $150,000 in gold bars were strategically hidden in his cluttered New Jersey home, including a large stack of cash stuffed into a Timberland boot.
Jurors this week were treated to numerous photographs capturing scenes inside the Englewood Cliffs residence where the Democratic senator and his wife, Nadine, live. Nadine’s trial has been postponed until July while she undergoes treatment for breast cancer.
The photographs showed cash hidden in designer bags and shoes, gold bars, several cell phones, jewelry, a cluttered closet filled with clothes and other items and a Mercedes-Benz that was allegedly one of the bribes paid to the couple.
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A wad of cash the FBI found in a Timberland work boot at Menendez’s home. (Government Exhibit, United States v. Menendez)
The “sheer volume of invoices” found posed a challenge for agents, prompting Special Agent Aristotelis Kougemitros to seek help, he said during his testimony Thursday. The task of manually tallying the $486,461 in bills proved arduous, requiring two cash-counting machines to be sent from the FBI office in Manhattan.
“I was told that if I seized the money, I had to count it on the spot,” Kougemitros said. “So, I called for reinforcements.”
Kougemitros said the city brought in cash counting machines and “with all the cash we started finding, we counted it all.”
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More than $600,000 in cash was found hidden around the New Jersey senator’s home. (Government Exhibit, United States v. Menendez)
In exchange for cash, gold bars and other luxurious gifts, Menendez allegedly used his power as a senator to benefit the governments of Qatar and Egypt and granted business favors to three businessmen from New Jersey: Wael Hana, Fred Daibes and Jose Uribe, co-defendants. in the trial.
All have pleaded not guilty except Uribe, who agreed to cooperate with authorities and testify at trial.
This is the second time in a decade that Menendez has been charged in a federal corruption case.
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