The Strange Origin of Sen. Bob Menendez’s Gold Stash

Four gold bars that were found at Senator Bob Menendez’s New Jersey house during an FBI raid in June 2022 were purportedly taken from a businessman who was suspected of bribing the senator, according to a shocking discovery. According to NBC News, the serial numbers on the gold bars correspond with those disclosed by Menendez fundraiser and real estate developer Fred Daibes following an armed robbery at his Edgewater, New Jersey, home in 2013.

In the 2013 burglary, thieves fled Daibes’ house with 22 gold bars and $500,000 in cash. Four individuals were later arrested by police, and the stolen gold was found. At least some of the gold discovered in Menendez’s house may now be directly linked to Daibes, who is accused of paying the senator in exchange for a variety of favors, thanks to the matching serial numbers.

Daibes had previously disclosed the individual serial numbers of every gold bar that had been taken from Menendez’s home. He is suspected of bribing Menendez in order to thwart a federal case against him. “The serial number of every gold bar is unique. All of them have stamps. You will never witness two stamped in the same manner,” Daibes said detectives in 2014.

Along with authenticating that the products were his, the New Jersey real estate developer had also completed “property release forms” to recover the stolen riches. Menendez was charged with bribery and corruption in September, and Daibes is at the center of that case at the federal level.

Menendez and his spouse Nadine are accused of three conspiracy offenses pertaining to a purported “corrupt bribery agreement.” The accusations center on favoring Menendez, his spouse Daibes, two more businessmen, Wael Hana and Jose Uribe, as well as the Egyptian government.

The prosecution claims that as part of the bribery conspiracy, Daibes gave Nadine Menendez two gold bars in March 2022, each weighing a kilogram. During the course of the inquiry, the FBI discovered $566,000 in cash and 13 gold bars, some of which were concealed in the senator’s jacket pockets.

Menendez, 69, has steadfastly denied any misconduct and has resisted calls to step down from the Senate. The senator and his spouse are charged with taking bribes from Daibes in return for Menendez’s help in keeping Menendez out of jail in connection with a bank fraud case. Menendez may spend up to 45 years in jail if found guilty of all counts.