Prosecutors add obstruction, conspiracy to list of charges faced by Sen. Menendez and his wife

Federal authorities unveiled a third superseding indictment targeting Sen. Bob Menendez that adds obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit the same to the growing list of criminal charges the embattled Democrat faces.

In the Tuesday indictment, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York allege the senator and Nadine Menendez, his wife, sought to conceal their alleged bribery scheme by returning some bribe proceeds, characterizing the payments as loans, and causing their attorneys to lie to authorities.

The new counts, which name only the couple, charge Sen. Menendez wrote a $23,569 check to his wife so she could return alleged bribe proceeds to Wael Hana, one of three North Jersey businessmen initially indicted alongside the senator.

Hand-filled memos on the checks characterized them as loan repayments to Hana, who is alleged to have paid down a mortgage on a property owned by Nadine Menendez that was facing foreclosure.

The senator wrote a separate $23,000 check to his wife for car payments that coincided with a $21,000 check Nadine Menendez wrote to Jose Uribe, a co-defendant who last week entered a guilty plea on charges he bribed the senator. The latter check’s memo line said the payment was for a “personal loan.”

Among other charges, Uribe pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Authorities say he paid for a Mercedes Benz in exchange for the senator’s intercession in a state insurance fraud prosecution. They allege that the checks returning a portion of the cost were meant to conceal the bribery scheme.

“In truth and in fact, and as Menendez and Nadine Menendez well knew, the funds Uribe provided to Nadine Menendez (including the cash Uribe provided to her in the parking lot) were not a loan, but bribe payments,” the latest superseding indictment says.

Prosecutors argued Menendez caused his now-former attorney to make false or misleading statements to prosecutors in the Southern District of New York in June and September of 2023. They said Nadine Menendez caused her attorney to do the same that August.

Menendez faces a bevy of other corruption charges. After his initial September indictment, prosecutors filed a superseding indictment in October accusing him of acting as a foreign agent for Egypt, while a second superseding indictment that dropped in January alleges he abused his position to benefit Qatar.

Menendez has denied any wrongdoing since a federal grand jury first indicted him in September. He has not said whether he will seek reelection but has resisted calls for his resignation. The dim prospects for his political survival — his current term ends in January — have led to a hotly contested Democratic primary set for June, with front-runners Rep. Andy Kim and first lady Tammy Murphy jockeying to succeed him.