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New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez has been indicted for allegedly accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, according to the Justice Department.

Prosecutors say Mr Menendez and his wife accepted gold bars and envelopes of cash from New Jersey businessmen.

The senator and his wife accepted the money to "benefit the government of Egypt", prosecutors claim.

The charges come after a years-long Justice Department investigation.

The pair each face three criminal counts: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.

Prosecutors allege Mr Menendez and his wife Nadine accepted bribes including cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage and a luxury vehicle from three New Jersey men: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes.

They did so in exchange for using Mr Menendez's influence and power as a senator to protect the three businessmen and to benefit the government of Egypt, according to the indictment.

Federal agents executed search warrants at Mr Menendez's home and found evidence of the bribery agreements, including over $480,000 (£391,000) in cash, much of which was "stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe", prosecutors allege.

Agents said they also found a luxury vehicle paid for by Mr Uribe parked in the garage, as well as $100,000 of gold bars in the home, pictures of which were included in the indictment.

Speaking at a news conference on Friday announcing the charges, prosecutors quoted from Mr Menendez's website, in which he details the limits of his power as a legislator. For instance, Mr Menendez said he could not compel an agency to act in someone's favour or get involved in criminal matters or cases.

"Behind the scenes, Senator Menendez was doing those things for certain people - the people who were bribing him in his wife," said Damian Williams, the US Attorney for Southern District of New York.

The BBC has reached out to Mr Menendez's office for comment.

Mr Menendez, 69, is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee and was elected to a third term in the Senate in 2018.

In the indictment, prosecutors allege Mr Menendez's wife Nadine worked with one of the three New Jersey businessmen, Mr Hana, to introduce the senator to Egyptian intelligence and military officials. Mr Hana - who is originally from Egypt - exchanged thousands of text messages with Ms Menendez, which she deleted from her cell phone, according to prosecutors.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66893936

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