Campaign fund dwindles as pro-Armenian Menendez spends nearly $2M on legal fees Article by Spotlight News

The US-based Spotlight News has published an article on the legal costs of pro-Armenian politician Bob Menendez. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

Fresh donations former Sen. Bob Menendez could use in his federal corruption case have stopped entirely, newly filed records show.

The primary campaign account for Menendez received no donations from July through September, records filed Tuesday night with the Federal Election Commission show.

Over those three months, the campaign took in about $27,000 in bank transfers but spent roughly $1.79 million, primarily on legal fees. That’s more than the $1.54 million in cash the campaign reported that it has left.

Meals at upscale restaurants, travel expenses and stays at a Manhattan hotel close to the courthouse where Menendez stood trial this summer also came out of the campaign account.

A separate legal defense fund for Menendez received no contributions in July and August, the latest time frame available, according to a document filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

The trial

After a New York jury found him guilty of breaking federal corruption laws, Menendez said he would appeal that ruling and insisted he was innocent, but the former senator is not independently wealthy and money is drying up for him to pursue his case.

The jury found Menendez guilty of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of bribes in exchange for political acts to benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

As part of a multiyear scheme the former senator ran with his wife, Nadine, and three businessmen, Menendez acted as a foreign agent, providing information to foreign intelligence officials and using his role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to influence weapons deals, prosecutors said.

“I am deeply, deeply disappointed by the jury’s decision,” Menendez said after the verdict. “I have never, ever been a foreign agent.”

Federal prosecutors this year filed similar cases against New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, that, like Menendez’s case, centered around how elected officials allegedly used their offices to benefit foreign governments and enrich themselves.

Menendez, who faces years in prison if convicted, was scheduled to be sentenced on October 29.

In late September, Judge Sidney Stein moved Menendez’s sentencing to January 29.

Friends of Menendez have submitted written statements on his behalf in order to secure a lenient ruling.

Big payouts to law firms

More than half of the money Menendez’s campaign account spent in July, August and September went to legal costs, including approximately $1.15 million to the firm Jones Day.

Politics

The law firm Paul Hastings was paid $250,000 and McDermott Will & Emery received $23,555.

Politicians have wide discretion over how and for what purposes they can use their campaign accounts.

Active federal campaigns that take in and spend money even without anyone actually running for office — what are called “zombie” accounts — are common in U.S. politics, and New Jersey politicians have routinely used money they raised to run for Congress to further their political goals in New Jersey.

Variety of assets

Menendez’s financial assets include bank accounts he shares with his wife, between $250,001 and $500,000 he has in the Senate credit union, a New Jersey state pension plan and a residential property in Union City worth between $250,001 and $500,000, according to his latest financial disclosure statement.

He also has a federal pension, though that would be voided once he stops his appeals process.

Menendez’s campaign account also spent $13,104.05 across seven transactions at the Millennium Downtown New York hotel in Manhattan, a four-star location with panoramic views. It’s also close to the courthouse where his trial took place.

Morton’s Steakhouse on Connecticut Avenue in Washington also received a $240.98 payment from the Menendez campaign in July.

FBI agents testified in court they had surveilled both Menendezes at Morton’s, a longtime favorite haunt of the former senator, as part of the government’s investigation.

By Vafa Guliyeva