Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and his wife faced new obstruction allegations and charges Tuesday in a superseding indictment filed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
The new accusations appear to result from last week’s guilty plea of co-defendant Jose Uribe, who admitted to providing Nadine Menendez with a Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for the senator’s help.
When Menendez and his wife learned of the federal investigation in 2022, prosecutors said they sought to cover up the bribe payments.
According to the superseding indictment, the senator instructed his then-lawyer to tell investigators he had been unaware of the payments Uribe made toward the Mercedes and, when he did learn about them, that he thought they were loans. He told his lawyer to tell investigators the same thing about a mortgage payment made by another co-defendant.
“In truth and in fact, as Menendez well knew, Menendez had learned of both the mortgage company payment and the car payments prior to 2022, and that they were not loans but bribe payments,” the superseding indictment said.
The senator, his wife and other defendants previously pleaded not guilty to charges in the bribery case. The trial was scheduled for May.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.