Judge in Menendez bribery case warns lawyers: Stop wasting time with motions

With two weeks to go until Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal bribery and corruption trial is set to begin, the federal judge overseeing the case has made a request: Stop wasting time.

Menendez, his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, and two of their initial co-defendants, New Jersey businessman Wael Hana and North Jersey developer Fred Daibes, face 18 counts brought by federal prosecutors. The counts include conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice, amid allegations that Menendez was working to benefit Egypt and Qatar.

Menendez's attorney made a motion last week to require the government to comply with the court's decision to disclose the pretrial exhibit list. The attorney argued in his letter to U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein that the government didn't disclose the actual exhibits it intends to offer at trial. Instead, it provided a list identifying over 38,000 possible exhibits.

The trial is set to begin on May 13 for Menendez, Hana and Daibes — a week later than initially planned because of a delay over negotiations regarding the potential testimony of Hana's lawyer. Arslanian's trial will begin this summer after her case was severed from the others' due to an unknown medical diagnosis.

In a handwritten note, Stein denied Menendez's motion on Monday.

"The parties are directed to avoid needless motion practice, which wastes everyone's time," Stein wrote.

Several motions have been made by all parties since the first indictment dropped in September. In April, Stein addressed the pending motions in a pretrial conference. The judge denied a request to transfer the case to New Jersey and determined the motion to sever the case of Arslanian and Menendez as moot, as well as motions related to evidence and dismissal of parts of the indictment.

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What is alleged in the Menendez case?

The group was initially indicted last fall alongside a third businessman, Jose Uribe. He has since changed his not guilty plea to guilty and agreed to cooperate.

Menendez and his wife allegedly received, among other things, cash, gold bars and a luxury car in exchange for the use of his political influence.

More than $480,000 in cash was found in envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe at Menendez's home during a search by investigators in June 2022, according to the indictment. Investigators said they also found more than $70,000 in Arslanian's safe deposit box. The indictment includes photos of cash said to be found in the clothes, including a windbreaker with Menendez's name stitched on it.

Some of the envelopes contained the fingerprints or DNA of Daibes — a longtime political donor to Menendez — and Daibes' driver, the indictment says. Investigators also discovered in the home more than $100,000 worth of gold bars, which were provided by Hana or Daibes, the indictment says.

Both Menendez and Arslanian tried to have the warrant that led to the discovery of the gold bars dismissed, but that motion was denied.

Menendez could pin his defense strategy on his wife, according to filings made earlier this year. Newly unredacted sections show that Menendez wanted the trials separated so that Arslanian could not assert marital privilege over information that could excuse or absolve Menendez and that “as part of his defense, Senator Menendez may elect to testify to communications with his wife” that “may inculpate Nadine by demonstrating the ways in which she withheld information from Senator Menendez or otherwise led him to believe that nothing unlawful was taking place.”

The memo specifically notes that this could include information about dinners with Egyptian officials and explanations for monetary items from Hana and Uribe.