Dem. Senator Bob Menendez’s wife pleads not guilty to charges of accepting bribes from Egypt in return for cash and precious-metal bars

New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez’s wife and three other defendants pleaded not guilty to revised charges alleging corruption and bribery.

Nadine Menendez and three associates, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, entered their pleas Wednesday in a New York City court.

In September, the New Jersey senator and his wife were charged with accepting bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car from three New Jersey businessmen to gain influence.

Those charges alleged that, in March 2022, Nadine met with a jeweler Hana connected her with to sell two one-kilogram gold bars she falsely claimed came from her mother. 

The new indictment filed last week added a new charge of conspiring to utilize the senator as an agent of the Egyptian government. 

Authorities said they found more than $100,000 worth of gold bars at the Menendez home. In March 2022, Nadine met with a jeweler to sell some gold bars she falsely claimed to have gotten from her mother

Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to use his power as a senator to benefit the three businessmen and the country of Egypt.

‘Piling new charge upon new charge does not make the allegations true. The facts haven’t changed, only a new charge. It is an attempt to wear someone down, and I will not succumb to this tactic,’ Menendez said to Fox News Digital.

‘I again ask people who know me and my record to give me the chance to present my defense and show my innocence.’

Authorities said they found nearly $500,000 in cash, much of it hidden in clothing and closets, at his home.

There were also gold bars worth more than $100,000 at the house in New Jersey which Menendez shares with his wife.

The senator, who gave up his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after his arrest, was excused from the proceeding until Monday because of senate business.

Nadine Menendez left federal court on Wednesday after pleading not guilty to additional conspiracy charges

Sen. Bob Menendez, left, arrived to a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday. He has been excused from the criminal proceedings due to senate business 

At Wednesday’s proceeding the judge denied a request by Hana that a GPS monitoring device attached to his leg be removed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal opposed the request and said Hana, a citizen of the U.S. and Egypt, was a flight risk because of his connections to the Egyptian government and he had more than $25 million in assets overseas.

Hana’s attorney, Lawrence Lustberg, said the device makes his client uncomfortable and that he has every intention of staying in the country to prove his innocence. 

The New Jersey senator previously pleaded not guilty to the original bribery charges.