Sen. Bob Menendez’s cluttered home loaded with $150K in gold bars, $480K in cash — some stashed in a boot: new photos

Priscilla DeGregory, Ben Kochman
·5 min read
Bob Menendez' gold bars, cash in home
Bob Menendez' gold bars, cash in home
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It’s a “boot-load” of cash.

New photos shown at Sen. Bob Menendez’s federal bribery trial reveal over $600,000 in cash and gold bars stashed around his cluttered New Jersey home — including a stack of bills stuffed inside a Timberland boot.

Jurors at the Menendez trial, which began last week in Manhattan federal court, were shown dozens of photos taken inside the Garden State Democrat’s Englewood Cliffs house during a June 2022 raid by the FBI.

New photos were shown at Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial revealing his cluttered New Jersey home that was filled with gold and cash, including money stuffed in a Timberland boot.
New photos were shown at Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial revealing his cluttered New Jersey home that was filled with gold and cash, including money stuffed in a Timberland boot.
When the feds raided Menendez’s home in June 2022, they found 13 gold bars.
When the feds raided Menendez’s home in June 2022, they found 13 gold bars.
There was over $480,000 worth of cash stashed at his house.
There was over $480,000 worth of cash stashed at his house.

The pictures, presented in court Thursday, show gold bars small and large, some appearing to be older with nicks and scratches on the surface while others are wrapped in clear plastic packaging.

Thick stacks of cash inside various bags — and even a pile of money stowed inside a well-worn brown Timberland work boot, according to a report by NJ.com — can also be seen in the images.

Other photos show $100, $50 and $20 bills neatly laid out in grids, presumably placed that way by federal agents during the raid as part of evidence gathering.

Jurors also saw closets stuffed to the gills with clothes and belongings; a tight bedroom with an exercise bike in it, and other untidy spaces inside the modest white house crammed with furniture and other items.

Menendez is accused of accepting cash and gold as bribes. Gregory P. Mango
Menendez is accused of accepting cash and gold as bribes. Gregory P. Mango

Special Agent Aristotelis Kougemitros testified Thursday about leading the raid on the home the veteran Democrat shares with his wife, Nadine Menendez — who is also charged in the case but won’t be going on trial until later this year.

Agents found 13 gold bars worth $150,000 and over $480,000 in cash in closets, inside the senator’s jackets and in designer bags, Kougemitros said.

Kougemitros testified that there was so much money in the home, agents struggled to tally the $486,461 worth of bills by hand and he had to call for two cash-counting machines to be sent over from the FBI’s Manhattan office, according to NJ.com.

Menendez’s wife Nadine is accused alongside the senator, but her trial has been postponed due to her breast cancer diagnosis. New York Post
Menendez’s wife Nadine is accused alongside the senator, but her trial has been postponed due to her breast cancer diagnosis. New York Post

“I was directed that if I seized the cash, that I needed to count it in place,” Kougemitros testified. “So I called in reinforcements.”

Menendez and his wife are charged with a slew of corruption and bribery crimes for allegedly pocketing the gold, cash, a Mercedes convertible and other luxury gifts.

In exchange, prosecutors say that Menendez, 70, used the power of his office, including heading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to dole out favors for the governments of Egypt and Qatar and for three New Jersey businessmen — Wael Hana, Fred Daibes and Jose Uribe.

Prosecutors also allege that one of the bribes Menendez and his wife Nadine accepted was a Mercedes convertible.
Prosecutors also allege that one of the bribes Menendez and his wife Nadine accepted was a Mercedes convertible.
The feds found cash stowed inside bags and inside Menendez’s jackets. BFlorczyk
The feds found cash stowed inside bags and inside Menendez’s jackets. BFlorczyk

Hana and Daibes are currently on trial alongside the senior senator while Uribe pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the feds.

Nadine’s trial was postponed until at least July so she can receive treatment for breast cancer, including getting a mastectomy, her husband announced last week.

During opening statements, lawyers for Menendez tried to blame Nadine, claiming she inherited the bars of gold from her Lebanese family and that her hubby didn’t even know they were in the home.

Federal agents had such a hard time counting all the money that two machines had to be sent to the home to complete the tally.
Federal agents had such a hard time counting all the money that two machines had to be sent to the home to complete the tally.
Photos show the cluttered home that Menendez and wife Nadine shared.
Photos show the cluttered home that Menendez and wife Nadine shared.
The Englewood Cliffs, NJ, home was packed with furniture, belongings and valuables.
The Englewood Cliffs, NJ, home was packed with furniture, belongings and valuables.

Defense attorney Avi Weitzman said it was a part of Nadine’s family culture to collect gold as it was often given as gifts at christenings and baby namings.

Similarly, Weitzman said Menendez formed the longtime habit of withdrawing cash and keeping it at home because of generational trauma he inherited from his Cuban refugee family, who lost everything and kept what little money they had where they lived.

On Tuesday, John Moldovan, the general counsel for Hana’s halal company, continued testifying about the Menendezes’ alleged corrupt relationship with Hana.

Cash and gold was found inside closets, inside a safe, and other places in the home.
Cash and gold was found inside closets, inside a safe, and other places in the home.
There were large and small gold bars in the home. Some appeared worn while others were still inside clear plastic packaging.
There were large and small gold bars in the home. Some appeared worn while others were still inside clear plastic packaging.

Hana helped save Nadine’s home from foreclosure by giving her money for a mortgage payment, Moldovan testified. He said Hana had asked him to help disguise the money to Nadine as a loan rather than a gift.

Menendez in exchange allegedly took actions to help Hana’s company secure a monopoly with Egypt so that any meat from the country to the US would have to be certified by Hana’s business, according to prosecutors.

Jewelry and cash were also seized as evidence in the case.
Jewelry and cash were also seized as evidence in the case.

Josh Paul, an ex-State Department official, took the stand after Moldovan to give expert testimony on congressional funding in Egypt.

All the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The trial will be on pause after Tuesday for a week for a Memorial Day break.

In exchange for the alleged bribes, Menendez is accused of doling out favors to the governments of Egypt and Qatar and to three New Jersey businessmen.
In exchange for the alleged bribes, Menendez is accused of doling out favors to the governments of Egypt and Qatar and to three New Jersey businessmen.

Menendez — who dodged an unrelated corruption conviction after a mistrial in 2017 — stepped down from the Foreign Relations Committee following the new charges.

With Post wires