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Government Corruption
Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez spent years helping developer and imam behind controversial ground zero mosque
2023-09-24
[NY Post] Sen. Robert Menendez spent years helping the Egyptian-American imam behind the controversial Ground Zero Mosque — a plan the embattled Democrat later championed.

Menendez, 69, was indicted on federal bribery charges Friday, along with his wife, for schemes that allegedly benefited the government of Egypt and three New Jersey businessmen.

Starting in 1989, when the senator was the mayor of Union City, NJ, Menendez reportedly secured more than $2 million in public cash and loans for Egyptian-American imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

The funding was meant to renovate three low-income apartment buildings Rauf owned there, according to reports — buildings that, tenants complained, remained dilapidated for years after the money was received.

At the same time, Rauf was in business with developer Fred Daibes — the Menendez political benefactor who allegedly bribed him with gold bars and cash, and who was named as a Menendez co-defendant Friday.

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York say they found gold bars from Daibes in the home Menendez shares with his wife Nadine.

Rauf is not named in the federal indictment against Menendez and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

In 2010, when controversy erupted over Rauf’s plans to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, Menendez cheered the proposed 13-story structure.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT BOB MENENDEZ'S INDICTMENT
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is facing federal corruption charges related to an alleged years-long scheme.

Menendez allegedly accepted bribes, including gold bars, in exchange for helping three businessmen, Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, and the country of Egypt, according to officials.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were charged with taking hundreds of thousands in bribes, according to a Manhattan federal indictment.

When the feds raided Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs home in June 2022, they found a 2019 Mercedes C-Class, at least 13 gold bars, and $566,000 in cash "stuffed in envelopes." Another $70,000 in cash was found in Nadine’s safe deposit box.
Related:
Ground Zero Mosque: 2015-09-27 Ground Zero Mosque Officially Defeated!
Ground Zero Mosque: 2014-12-23 Ten Questions You’re Not Supposed to Ask About Islam
Ground Zero Mosque: 2011-10-24 Developer of GZMosque due in court this week
Related:
Feisal Abdul Rauf: 2015-09-27 Ground Zero Mosque Officially Defeated!
Feisal Abdul Rauf: 2014-05-04 Developer Scales Back Plans for Muslim Center Near Ground Zero
Feisal Abdul Rauf: 2013-06-13 Ground Zero Mosque Fraudsters Settle With Each Other
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