Senator Bob Menéndez declared guilty of accepting bribes in cash, gold, and a luxury car.

Cuban-American Bob Menéndez, a Democratic senator from New Jersey, was found guilty of all charges in his corruption trial, which include accepting bribes in the form of gold, cash, and a luxury car from three businessmen from the aforementioned U.S. territory.

According to the AP agency, Menéndez was also found guilty of acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government.

The prosecutors argued that Menéndez abused his political influence to protect his allies from legal investigations and benefit associates, including his wife.

This supposedly involved meetings with Egyptian intelligence officials and modifying their stance on that nation to expedite millions of dollars in American military aid.

Menéndez, 70 years old, did not testify and, upon hearing the verdict, appeared to react calmly.

Outside the courthouse, he publicly insisted that he was only doing his job as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "I have never violated my public oath. I have always been a patriot of my country."

Furthermore, he stated that the gold bars found in his New Jersey home by the FBI belonged to his wife, according to Univisión's digital page.

Both the politician and his legal team expressed their intention to appeal the decision.

The case has highlighted allegations of political corruption and undue influence in governmental affairs.

The conviction comes four months before Election Day and potentially ruins any hope Menéndez had of campaigning for re-election as an independent candidate.

In October 2023, federal prosecutors in the United States filed a new indictment against Democratic Senator from New Jersey, Bob Menéndez, and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menéndez, accusing them of being undercover agents for Egypt.

According to this statement, both conspired to act as foreign agents of Egypt, which exacerbated the recent corruption accusations against the Cuban-American senator, CNN reported.

Menéndez, who at the time of the initial corruption allegations was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had already been accused on September 22 of receiving "hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes" in exchange for political influence. The next day, he resigned from his position.

Days later, he suggested that the money he is being accused of bribing with belongs to a personal savings account and he keeps it for emergencies.

"I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which I have set aside for emergencies and because of my family's history of facing confiscation in Cuba," he said in his defense at a press conference.

In searches carried out by federal agents at the couple's house, $480,000 hidden in envelopes inside clothes, closets, and in a safe; gold bars valued at over $100,000, and a Mercedes-Benz car were found.