Former United States Senator Robert “Bob” Menendez has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for extortion, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent, white-collar crimes for which he was convicted in July.
This case underscores the need for anyone, notably in the Houston area, to seek a knowledgeable white-collar criminal defense lawyer to protect their legal rights.
According to NBC News, prosecutors had asked for a 15-year prison sentence for Menendez, which his criminal defense attorneys countered would be a “life and death sentence” given his age of 71.
Menendez’s defense lawyers had first asked for a 2-year sentence for him, but after prosecutors demanded 15 years, they asked the judge to sentence their client instead to 8 years in prison.
That sentence would have made Menendez eligible to serve time in a minimum security prison facility, an option that does not apply for a sentence of 10 years or more. But he didn’t get it.
At a sentencing hearing on January 29, 2025, U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein delivered a prison sentence whose length was between the prosecutors’ and defense lawyers’ requests, sentencing Menendez to 11 years in prison for his crimes.
Those crimes have become known informally as the “gold bar bribery case,” a years-long corruption and bribery scheme during which Menendez became pegged as “Gold Bar Bob.”
10 Celebrities Sentenced to Prison for White-Collar Crimes
Yes, you can go to prison for a white-collar crime—even if you’re a celebrity. Read our top-10 list of celebrities sentenced to jail for white-collar crimes.
Gold bars, cash alleged as bribes
Prosecutors said Menendez accepted stacks of cash and gold bars as bribes to benefit the governments of Qatar and Egypt.
According to the Associated Press, Menendez had acted as an agent for Egypt for bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. That reportedly included serving Egypt’s interests as he strived to protect a meat certification monopoly that a New Jersey businessman had established with the Egyptian government.
Menendez also reportedly provided Egyptian officials with information about the U.S. Embassy staff in Cairo.
In addition to an 11-year prison sentence, the federal judge also entered a forfeiture order for all of Menendez’s illegal gains in the case, totaling $992,188.10, said the U.S. attorney’s office.
However, the judge did allow Menendez to remain free until starting his sentence on June 6 so that he can attend a trial for his wife and co-defendant, Nadine Menendez, who faces many of the same charges in a separate trial in March, which was delayed due to her cancer treatments.
Two other co-defendants, both New Jersey businessmen, were tried alongside Menendez and also were found guilty of bribery. At the same sentencing hearing on January 29, one of them was sentenced to 97 months (just over 8 years) and fined $1.25 million, and the other was sentenced to 7 years and fined $1.75 million.
A third businessman, who pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution during the 9-week trial, will be sentenced later this year.
Menendez, his wife and the 3 New Jersey businessmen all were indicted in the scheme in 2023 after a lengthy investigation staged by the U.S. attorney’s office in New York.
Bribery, other charges will be appealed
Menendez, who pleaded not guilty at trial, says he will appeal his conviction. He also is seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump, having been unable to get one from former President Joe Biden, NBC News said.
A New Jersey Democrat, Menendez was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time he reportedly took payoffs. After serving 18 years in the Senate, he resigned in August of 2024, following his conviction in the previous month.
The businessmen in the case reportedly paid bribes to Menendez and his wife in exchange for the senator taking actions that would benefit them and the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
The bribes reportedly included a Mercedes-Benz, gold bars worth about $150,000 and over $480,000 in cash, which the FBI found stuffed into closets, jackets bearing Menendez’s name and other clothing when agents searched his Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey home in 2022.
Menendez had previously faced a trial for corruption for accepting gifts from a Florida eye doctor and failing to report them, but that trial ended in a hung jury in 2017, and charges were dropped by the Justice Department.
Prosecutors said Menendez and just 12 other U.S. senators have been charged with crimes while serving in the Senate, of whom 4 before him were convicted.
White-collar crime punishments & defenses in Texas
Learn about the potential consequences of and defenses for forgery, bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, fraud and other white-collar crimes in Houston.
White-collar crimes often mean many years in prison
Since white-collar crimes such as fraud, embezzlement, bribery, identity theft or money laundering do not involve violence, some believe that such crimes are not likely to bring severe punishments.
That is incorrect.
Can you go to jail or prison for bribery or other white-collar crimes? Yes, you certainly can.
In fact, the federal government has been cracking down on non-violent white-collar crimes such as extortion, bribery and conspiracy, seeking convictions that can involve many years in prison and high fines or restitution.
In one recent case, a Houston man was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and directed to pay $11 million in restitution after he was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the federal government for receiving an $8 million loan on the basis of fraudulent records.
In another recent Houston-area case, a Sugar Land neurosurgeon was ordered to pay over $2 million to settle allegations that he had falsely charged Medicare and the federal government for surgical procedures that never were performed.
Get a skilled Houston white-collar defense attorney
If you or a loved one in the Houston area faces a claim, accusation, assertion, allegation or charge of a white-collar crime, you should quickly seek an experienced and skilled Houston white-collar criminal defense attorney to protect your legal rights.
The Neal Davis Law Firm has long helped clients facing various criminal charges in Houston, Sugar Land, Bellaire, The Woodlands, and elsewhere in Harris County, Fort Bend County, and Montgomery County, while placing a special focus on white-collar criminal defense.
In fact, the law firm has been honored and recognized by its peers and publications for its white-collar criminal defense work, with Neal Davis being named a “best lawyer” for white-collar criminal defense by Best Lawyers in America. Such honors are based on merit and include confidential peer reviews by other attorneys.
You need the best Houston criminal attorney you can find to handle your case. Get the Neal Davis Law Firm, and get results. Contact us today for a confidential consultation.
