![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/whats-in-the-senator-robert-menendez-indictment-gold-bars-and-stacks-of-cash/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/131233192_gettyimages-1475317945.jpg&description=Media caption, Watch: Prosecutor shows evidence against Senator Menendez When federal agents searched the home of a US senator, they found "a lot of gold", more than $480,000 (£390,000) in hidden cash, and much more, according to an indictment unsealed on Friday. Robert Menendez and his wife are accused of participating in a bribery scheme to secretly aid the Egyptian government. The indictment contains three counts against the couple as well as charges against three New Jersey businessmen alleged to have paid the bribes. Both Mr and Mrs Menendez have issued denials. Here's a closer look at the allegations and the characters involved. Mr Menendez has served as the US senator for New Jersey since 2006. As the top-ranking Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the last five years, he has had influence over US foreign policy, including on Russia, China and the Middle East. A son of Cuban immigrants, the 69-year-old senator is also active on immigration issues. This is not the first time Mr Menendez has been criminally charged. He was previously indicted in New Jersey in 2015, on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of bribery, having allegedly accepted luxury holidays from a wealthy Florida eye doctor. That case ended in a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Senator Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian each face three charges Mr Menendez divorced his first wife, Jane, in 2005, and married Nadine Arslanian in 2020. According to reports, Mr Menendez had met her almost a decade earlier at IHOP, a chain restaurant, but their relationship only began in 2018. He proposed to her by singing in front of the Taj Mahal, a video posted online shows. The justice department says the 56-year-old was unemployed before she became romantically involved with the senator. She has been married before, with the New York Times reporting that she struggled financially after a 2005 divorce.){kind=link}
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Watch: Prosecutor shows evidence against Senator Menendez
When federal agents searched the home of a US senator, they found “a lot of gold”, more than $480,000 (£390,000) in hidden cash, and much more, according to an indictment unsealed on Friday.
Robert Menendez and his wife are accused of participating in a bribery scheme to secretly aid the Egyptian government.
The indictment contains three counts against the couple as well as charges against three New Jersey businessmen alleged to have paid the bribes.