US Senator Menendez convicted at corruption trial

NEW YORK: US Senator Bob Menendez was convicted on Tuesday on all 16 criminal counts he faced at his corruption trial by a jury in Manhattan federal court, completing the once-powerful New Jersey Democrat’s dramatic downfall.

The jury deliberated for more than 12 hours over three days before reaching a verdict in a trial that had taken nine weeks. Menendez, 70, had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which included bribery, acting as a foreign agent and obstructing justice.

The trial centered on what federal prosecutors called several overlapping bribery schemes in which the senator and his wife Nadine Menendez accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and car and mortgage payments from three businessmen who wanted his help. In exchange for bribes, Menendez helped steer billions of dollars in American aid to Egypt, where one of the businessman, Wael Hana, had ties to government officials, according to prosecutors.