FILE – Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, speaks during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the fiscal year 2024 budget request for the State Department, March 22, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Menendez is again accused of using influence to help a businessman secure a deal with a Qatari investment fund. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez introduced a member of the Qatari royal family and director of a company with ties to the Qatari government to a New Jersey businessman before the company invested millions of dollars in the businessman’s real estate project. a rewritten indictment alleged Tuesday.
The latest version of the indictment against the Democrat in Manhattan federal court did not identify the member of the Qatari royal family, but said the person was a director of Qatari Investment Co.
The indictment says the Qatari investor then considered and negotiated a multimillion-dollar investment in the real estate project planned by Fred Daibes, one of three businessmen charged in the indictment along with the senator and his wife. All have pleaded not guilty.
Messages left with attorneys and a spokesman for Menendez were not immediately returned.
Tim Donohue, an attorney for Daibes, said he had no immediate comment.
No new charges were added to the latest version of an indictment that already charged Menendez with a bribery conspiracy that allegedly enriched the senator and his wife with cash, gold bars and a luxury car. The allegations against Qatar occurred between 2021 and 2023, the indictment says.
After his arrest in September, the senator resigned as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He resisted calls to withdraw him from his Senate seat.
According to the indictment, Menendez accepted cash and gold bullion in exchange for encouraging Qatari Investment Co. to invest in Daibes, including by taking actions on behalf of the government of Qatar.
The indictment alleges that while Qatari Investment Co. was considering investing in real estate development owned by Daibes, Menendez made several public statements supporting the government of Qatar and then provided them to Daibes , so he could share it with the Qatari investor Qatari government official.
An earlier version of the indictment accused Menendez, his wife and one of the businessmen of conspiring to illegally use the senator as agents of the Egyptian government.
Judge Sidney H. Stein, who is presiding over the case, refused last week to extend the May 5 trial date after defense attorneys demanded more time to prepare for a trial that they said already involves more than 6.7 million documents.
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