Last week, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) was charged with bribery, honest services fraud and extortion among other corruption-related crimes, marking a second such indictment since 2015.
The powerful Senator, who until the indictment hit, chaired the Foreign Relations Committee, is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes and gifts in exchange for using his influence and connections to protect and secure favorable treatment for three businessmen with ties to the Egyptian government. The alleged bribes include cash, a luxury car, help with a home mortgage, compensation for low-or-no-show jobs and, gold bullion.
“Menendez performed a web search for ‘how much is one kilo of gold worth.’ As discussed herein, multiple gold bars provided by [co-defendant Fred] Daibes were found during the court-authorized June 2022 search of Menendez and [co-defendant and Menendez’s wife] Nadine Menendez’s residence,” the indictment reads.
(Spoiler alert: one kilo of gold is worth an awful lot of money.)
The Menendez prosecution isn’t the first time numismatics and/or bullion have played a central role in a court case. Here are some of the more notable recent examples:
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