New Jersey Developer Implicated In New Indictment In Menendez Case
A New Jersey developer was named in connection with bribery charges listed in a new indictment by the federal government in the alleged bribery case of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez.
The developer, Fred Daibes, was previously indicted along with Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, and two other New Jersey businessmen in September. All parties plead not guilty.
The new indictment, filed Jan. 2, supersedes the September charges and includes new allegations of bribery related to Qatar. Menendez is accused of accepting lavish gifts from Qatar and receiving bribes from Daibes to help the developer make business deals with Qatari nationals.
Menendez is also accused of acting as a foreign agent of the Egyptian government.
An attorney for Daibes did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
In the new filing, prosecutors say Menendez’s criminal activity continued into 2023, a year longer than previously alleged. During the years in which the bribery occurred, Menedez allegedly accepted envelopes of cash and gold bars from Daibes “in exchange for using his influence to help Daibes obtain millions of dollars from an investment fund tied to Qatar” and then took additional steps on his own to help Qatar and its reputation stateside, CNN reported.
The indictment says Menendez introduced Daibes to a member of the Qatari royal family and principal of the Qatari Investment Co., an entity from which Daibes was seeking an investment. During the period when the investment fund was considering Daibes’ proposal, Menendez “made multiple public statements supporting the government of Qatar” and then gave Daibes copies of the statements to share with his would-be Qatari investors and a Qatari government official who was an associate of the company, according to the indictment.
Daibes, who is credited with remaking the town of Edgewater, New Jersey, through luxury high-rise developments, has previously faced allegations that he defrauded a bank he founded, The New York Times has reported. That case, and trying to avoid a trial for it, was the alleged motivation for Daibes’ bribes to Menendez cited in the January indictment.
