NJ businessman admits trying to bribe Sen. Bob Menendez, will cooperate with prosecutors

A New Jersey businessman accused of bribing New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez in exchange for political favors pleaded guilty to several federal charges in the case on Friday.

Jose Uribe pleaded guilty to seven counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery, tax evasion and wire fraud. He also agreed to cooperate with federal officials as a condition of the plea deal.

Prosecutors allege Menendez and his wife, Nadine, took bribes from Uribe and two other businessmen to enrich them, interfere in criminal proceedings and provide benefits to the Egyptian government. They say Uribe gave the Menendezes a Mercedes-Benz convertible worth more than $60,000 after Nadine lost her car in a crash. In return, they allege, the senator tried to interfere in a criminal prosecution against one of Uribe’s associates and an investigation into one of his employees.

Menendez and his wife have both pleaded not guilty to charges against them and deny any wrongdoing. The other businessmen — real estate developer Fred Daibes, and Wael Hana, who owns a halal meat certification business in New Jersey — have also pleaded not guilty.

“Typically, prosecutors are not going to enter into a deal like this unless they've secured the cooperation of the codefendant,” said Bob Bianchi, a former prosecutor for Morris County who now runs a legal defense firm. “We just don't know what the parameters of this whole situation [are]. But if I were Sen. Menendez's attorney, I would look at it as a very ominous sign.”

The indictment against Uribe describes him as a businessman who lives in New Jersey and works in the trucking and insurance business. He has a prior fraud conviction, according to prosecutors, and also had his insurance broker’s license revoked in the past. He is friends with Hana and began developing a relationship with Menendez and his wife in 2018, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said that in exchange for the Mercedes Benz, Menendez pressured an official with the New Jersey attorney general’s office to resolve the case favorably for Uribe’s associates without success. Prosecutors haven’t named that official.

Uribe agreed to pay restitution and give the Internal Revenue Service copies of amended, accurate tax returns for 2016 through 2021 as part of his plea deal. He also agreed to pay any taxes he owes to the IRS for those years.

If Uribe complies with all the terms, according to the plea deal, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York will not prosecute him further. The deal does not protect him against prosecution for other crimes. If prosecutors learn that Uribe has committed additional crimes or provides “false, incomplete, or misleading testimony or information,” he could once again face criminal charges.

The agreement does not say what Uribe’s sentence will be, noting that criminal sentences are up to the court and promises from prosecutors are forbidden. But it does say that prosecutors will inform probation officers and the court about Uribe’s pledge to cooperate with law enforcement. The total maximum sentence on all counts is 95 years in prison, according to the plea deal.

Menendez is facing the second bribery indictment of his political career. He was charged in 2015 with trading political favors for donations and other perks, but the trial ended in a hung jury.

He hasn’t said yet whether he’ll seek re-election in this year’s race for the U.S. Senate, but in the only poll published so far, Menendez trails far behind the frontrunners in the Democratic primary — New Jersey's First Lady Tammy Murphy and Rep. Andy Kim.

In the immediate fallout of his own indictment last year, Menendez lost the support of most of New Jersey’s political leaders, including Anthony Vainieri, chair of the Democratic organization in Hudson County, Menendez's longtime political base.

Without the support of the Hudson County and other county Democratic organizations, Menendez would have to run off the “county line,” which gives candidates with endorsements from county political machines an advantage on primary ballots.

Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, confirmed Uribe’s guilty plea but declined to comment further. Daniel Fetterman, a lawyer for Uribe, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Nancy Solomon contributed to this story.