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New York|Menendez Co-Conspirator Sentenced to 7 Years as Ex-Senator Awaits Fate
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/nyregion/bob-menendez-corruption-sentencing.html
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Robert Menendez, a former senator from New Jersey, faces a potentially lengthy prison sentence after his conviction on federal corruption charges.
Jan. 29, 2025Updated 11:06 a.m. ET
Fred Daibes, a co-defendant of former Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in prison, after being convicted last year of participating along with several others in a brazen scheme of bribery and corruption.
Mr. Daibes was also fined $1.75 million.
Mr. Menendez was scheduled to be sentenced later on Wednesday in Manhattan and could spend much of the rest of his life in prison.
Federal prosecutors, who have described Mr. Menendez’s conduct as possibly “the most serious for which a U.S. senator has been convicted in the history of the republic,” have asked Judge Sidney H. Stein of Federal District Court to impose a sentence of at least 15 years in prison.
Lawyers for Mr. Menendez, 71, citing his hardscrabble upbringing, life of service and devotion to his family, are seeking a much shorter term, of no more than 27 months, with “at least two years’ rigorous community service.”
The lawyers, Avi Weitzman and Adam Fee, also asked the judge to consider whether sparing him prison and instead sentencing him to home detention with the community service provision would best serve “the ends of justice in this case.”
Mr. Menendez has maintained his innocence and plans to appeal the verdict. A jury found him guilty on all 16 counts he faced, including bribery, extortion, honest services wire fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and acting as an agent for Egypt.
