A New Jersey businessman charged with attempting to bribe Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) with a Mercedez-Benz for his political sway has pleaded guilty in the far-reaching corruption case.
Jose Uribe entered a guilty plea Friday in federal court in New York to charges that include conspiracy to commit bribery, obstruction of justice and tax evasion, court filings show.
The terms of any agreement Uribe may have struck with the government remain unclear, but his plea could place Menendez in further legal jeopardy as he pledges to fight his charges and remain in the Senate. The Hill requested comment from Menendez’s attorneys.
Uribe was first indicted on two charges in the fall, and his plea includes five more charges newly unveiled on Friday.
Uribe was originally accused of helping secure a Mercedes-Benz convertible for Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian, in exchange for Menendez’s help disrupting a criminal investigation into the businessman by New Jersey’s attorney general. Menendez and his wife have pleaded not guilty to four counts each.
The businessman’s plea, however, acknowledges many of the facts at the center of the charges against the senator.
Uribe on Friday also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charge for claiming to prosecutors in July — before charges were brought — that the payments Uribe made for the convertible were a loan. Prosecutors in charging documents said the false and misleading statement was “an effort to interfere” with the investigation of the senator.
The businessman also pleaded guilty to tax evasion for not reporting certain income from 2016 through 2021.
“The Court accepts the guilty plea,” the court wrote in a brief docket entry.
Two other businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were charged alongside Menendez and have pleaded not guilty.
Hana and Menendez’s wife are accused of plotting with Menendez between January 2018 and June 2022 to aid the Egyptian government. Menendez also allegedly recommended that the president nominate an individual as New Jersey attorney general, with the belief that person could be influenced regarding a criminal prosecution involving Daibes.
Uribe’s sentencing is set for June 14, just weeks after Menendez’s trial is set to begin on May 6.
The New Jersey senator has brushed off calls for him to step aside in the wake of the indictment, though he did step down from chairing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“Those who believe in justice believe in innocence until proven guilty,” Menendez said in the fall after being charged. “I intend to continue to fight for the people of New Jersey with the same success I’ve had for the past five decades. This is the same record of success these very same leaders have lauded all along.”
Updated at 1:11 p.m.
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