At least four gold bars found in the FBI search of Sen. Bob Menendez’s home had been directly linked to a New Jersey businessman now accused of bribing Menendez, the state’s senior senator, Bergen County prosecutor’s records from a 2013 robbery case show.
The businessman, Fred Daibes, reported to police that he was the victim of an armed robbery in 2013, and he asked police to recover the gold bars stolen from him. Daibes reported that $500,000 in cash and 22 gold bars were stolen, Edgewater, New Jersey, police records show. Police later caught four people with the stolen goods.
…
A decade later, it said, the FBI found four gold bars with unique serial numbers in the Clifton, New Jersey, home of Menendez and his wife, Nadine.
Stupid headline. Literally everyone who reads it is going to think the gold bars in Menendez’ possession were stolen property, but they’re not and that’s not the point of the story at all.
TL;DR: In 2013 thieves stole 22 gold bars from the guy that bribed Menendez. Because he’s rich, the cops actually solved the crime and returned the property and, here’s the actual important bit: Fred Daibes, the guy that bribed Menendez, signed a release form specifying that the stamped, numbered gold bars were his. Now Menendez has some of them and that provenance makes it a lot easier to show where he got them.
You know, even if they were stolen I think my outrage meter would not have moved. Our representatives should be held to a higher standard than the average person when it comes to gifts/conflicts of interest, and any kind of (accepted) preferential treatment should be grounds for expulsion.
Doing the Lord’s work there matey, good on you.
This is some wild west shit. Gold bars! Literal gold bars like some kind of cartoon villain.
Dagnabbit!
Exactly what I was thinking. Like, this is truly the goofiest yet most depressing timeline.
Look at his face. Is this really the face of someone who would take bribes? Who doesn’t have gold bars in his basement should throw the first stone.
I’d say he looks like someone who lies through their teeth, but I’m not wholly convinced that he has teeth rather than being a giant toothless old baby.
I’ve been waiting for this permission slip all my life
Taking bribes in stolen, easily-traceable gold? I’m almost surprised they didn’t come from a Swiss vault and had swastikas stamped on them…
Corruption?
Role in Congress suspended until proven innocent. We’ll still have enough unexposed criminals working the grift, one in the penalty box won’t matter.
I really wanted the robbery to be of Fort Knox or at least a huge bank vault. You know, to match how cartoonishly corrupt this bastard is…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A decade later, it said, the FBI found four gold bars with unique serial numbers in the Clifton, New Jersey, home of Menendez and his wife, Nadine.
For example, a Swiss Bank Corp. gold bar with serial number 590005 that the FBI said it seized from Menendez’s home in a search this year had also been reported stolen by Daibes — and returned to him — a decade earlier.
“All of this spells bad news for Sen. Menendez, because the chain of custody — it appears — is going to be really easy to prove up,” NBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos said.
In a statement about the ties of the gold bars found at his home to a decade-old robbery, counsel for Menendez said he “will not be commenting on anonymous media leaks designed to prejudice his right to a fair trial.
In exchange, investigators alleged, Menendez used his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to help Hana win an exclusive halal meat inspection contract with the Egyptian government.
As for Daibes’ separate bank fraud case, a federal judge in New Jersey threw out a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to one count and faced a sentence of probation after the new bribery charges came to light.
The original article contains 861 words, the summary contains 212 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Little shit should get extra time for embarrassing the Dems, whose only alternative is, uh… a total wannabe dictator who’d usher in fascism just because it keeps his base happy. So yeah. Thanks a fucking lot.
Wtf is this word salad
A fine assembly of fresh leaves, deeply rich sun-dried tomatoes, crispy peppers and the stinkiest blue cheese you’ve ever laid a nostril on.
