Former Sen. Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Wednesday after being found guilty on 16 federal charges last year in what prosecutors called a coordinated, yearslong bribery and conspiracy scheme.
The sentence capped the extraordinary downfall of a once-powerful lawmaker.
“I have lost everything,” Menendez said, pleading with U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein for mercy. “For a man who spent his entire life in public service, every day I am awake is a punishment.”
Menendez was found guilty on charges including extortion, honest services wire fraud, obstruction of justice, acting as a foreign agent for Egypt, bribery, and conspiracy. The jury deliberated for more than 12 hours over the course of three days. The trial lasted nine weeks.
The verdict made Menendez the seventh U.S. senator to be convicted of a federal crime. He is also the first senator to be charged with acting as a foreign agent and the first to be indicted in separate bribery cases. His first prosecution, in 2017, resulted in a mistrial after jurors could not come to a unanimous verdict.
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Menendez’s lawyer, Adam Fee, argued Wednesday that the disgraced 71-year-old lawmaker deserved credit for his nearly five decades of public service.
“For nearly 50 years, he’s been a tireless servant of his community, his state, and his country,” Fee said. “Despite his decades of service, he is known more widely as ‘Gold Bar Bob.’”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
