Several well-known businessmen have publicly acknowledged to providing money and gold bars to Senator Bob Menendez and his spouse during the senator’s ongoing corruption trial. But they fiercely dispute any charges of bribery, insisting that these transactions were only friendly gestures between longtime friends.
The well-known real estate entrepreneur Fred Daibes acknowledges that he made an offer of money and gold to Senator Menendez and his spouse. His defense lawyer, César de Castro, emphasized the long-standing connection between Daibes and Menendez while emphasizing the morally correctness of giving.
Comparably, Wael Hana, another defendant, fiercely denies any suggestion of misconduct and insists that the presents he gave to Senator Nadine Menendez’s wife were only acts of kindness.
Gold bars and bundles of cash that were taken from the Menendez residence are among the evidence that jurors have been shown as the trial goes on. Defense lawyers maintain that these are simply cordial presents being given to friends, despite the prosecution’s claims that they are connected to suspected bribery schemes.
In addition, the defense argues that Hana and Nadine Menendez had a close bond akin to siblings and often exchanged gifts.
Hana’s attorney, Larry Lustberg, emphasized that Hana’s presents were acts of goodwill, refuting claims of bribery and claiming that loans were given to Nadine Menendez instead of illegal payments.
Defense lawyers emphasize that there is little evidence to connect the gifts to any official actions by Senator Menendez, notwithstanding the prosecution’s claims of a bribery plot. They minimize the exchanges’ significance in the context of the trial and present them as culturally meaningful gestures.
Throughout the trial, the defense has persisted in arguing that the money and gold bars that were traded were innocuous gestures of friendship, refuting the prosecution’s claims of bribery and corruption.