Businessman Jose Uribe pleads GUILTY to trying to bribe Senator Bob Menendez in corruption case involving bribes of cash, cars and gold bars

A New Jersey businessman has pleaded guilty to bribing Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez in a corruption case.

Jose Uribe has admitted to seven charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud, obstruction of justice, tax evasion and other charges.

The New Jersey Democrat is under investigation for allegedly taking bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car over the past five years to provide favors to three businessmen — including Uribe — who have also been charged in the case .

Uribe, a former insurance broker from New Jersey, is accused of providing Menendez with a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for the senator’s help in a New Jersey insurance fraud case.

He is the first in the case to plead guilty and is now expected to cooperate with prosecutors.

The senator, his wife and the two other co-defendants have pleaded not guilty.

The senator, his wife and the three other co-defendants have pleaded not guilty

Menendez and his wife Nadine attend a reception in honor of the Greek prime minister

The Justice Department first announced its investigation into Menendez in September 2023, alleging that he received more than $400,000 in cash and gold as bribes.

The corruption scandal prompted Menendez to resign from his influential post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The other businessmen charged in the case besides Uribe are Wael Hanna and Fred Diabes.

Prosecutors said in a February filing that Wael Hana, an Egyptian-American halal magnate, allegedly worked with Menendez and bribed the senator to receive favors for his company.

However, the arrangement nearly fell apart after Hana short-changed the Menendez couple by giving them a diamond ring that he said was worth $35,000, although a jeweler later told Nadine that the band was worth $12,000, according to the filing.

Hana worked with the jeweler to obtain a receipt that falsely claimed the ring was worth more, prosecutors said.

According to the FBI, Diabes is now responsible for bribing Menendez with the gold bars.

The 70-year-old embattled Democrat and his wife Nadine are accused of taking bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car over the past five years to grant favors to three businessmen.

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez claims gold bars and cash at the center of his bribery indictment were found during an illegal search – and he wants a New York judge to throw out the evidence

During a search, cash was found in jackets bearing the senator’s name

Hana leaves a federal courthouse in New York after pleading not guilty in the bribery case

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York allege Menendez had ties to Egyptian officials

Diabes is said to have given the senator gold in exchange for Menendez to pressure the US Justice Department not to aggressively prosecute him in a bank fraud case.

In 2013, Diabes’ penthouse was broken into and gold bars, cash and other items were stolen.

The perpetrators were caught and confessed, and Daibes signed official police documents declaring that the gold bars were his, identifiable thanks to serial numbers and markings.

Daibes had the stolen gold bars returned to him.

However, the Menendez couple claimed that the gold bars at the center of their scandal were actually family heirlooms, according to the February lawsuit.

An employee of Menendez and a jeweler were told by the senator and his wife that the gold came from Nadine’s deceased mother.

But prosecutors say Nadine told her jeweler a “false cover story” about where the gold came from.

Menedez claims the gold bars and cash at the center of his bribery indictment were found during an illegal search – and he wants a New York judge to throw out the evidence.

He claimed his home was searched because prosecutors wanted revenge after he dismissed a conviction in 2017.

His arguments, made by his lawyers, were contained in papers filed in Manhattan federal court, where Menendez faces a trial in May.

In January, Nadine requested separate trials so their marital secrets wouldn’t end up in court.