New photos admitted into evidence in U.S. v. Menendez shed light on what federal agents found when they searched the New Jersey senator’s home.
His cluttered New Jersey home contained about $500,000 in cash, including stacks of bills stuffed inside Timberland boots, and $150,000 in gold bars cleverly hidden.
Jurors this week were shown numerous photographs showing the interior of the Englewood Cliffs home of the Democratic senator and his wife, Nadine, whose trial has been postponed until July while she undergoes treatment for breast cancer.
The photos showed cash stuffed into designer bags and shoes, gold bars, multiple cell phones, jewelry, a cluttered closet full of clothes and other items, and a Mercedes Benz that was allegedly one of the bribes given to the couple.
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The FBI found a stack of bills inside a pair of Timberland work boots at Menendez’s home. (Government evidence, United States v. Menendez)
The “enormous amount of bills” found posed challenges for agents, so Special Agent Aristotelis Kougemitros said in testimony Thursday, that he requested assistance. Counting the $486,461 in bills by hand was so difficult that it required the dispatch of two cash-counting machines from the FBI’s Manhattan office.
“When we seized the cash, we were told to count it there and then,” Kougemitros said, “so we called in reinforcements.”
Kougemitros said the city installed cash-counting machines and “counted all the cash that we started finding.”
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More than $600,000 in cash was found hidden around the home of a New Jersey state senator. (Government evidence, United States v. Menendez)
Menendez is accused of using his power as a senator to provide benefits to the governments of Qatar and Egypt in exchange for cash, gold bars and other lavish gifts, and to provide business favors to three New Jersey businessmen who are co-defendants in the trial — Wael Hana, Fred Dibes and Jose Uribe.
All have pleaded not guilty except for Uribe, who has agreed to cooperate with authorities and testify at trial.
This is the second time Menendez has been charged with federal corruption in the past decade.
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