Federal prosecutors are seeking a 15-year prison sentence for former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), arguing his crimes constitute a “long-running bribery and foreign influence scheme of rare gravity.” The sentencing recommendation was filed on Jan. 9 in Manhattan federal court.
“The Court should impose substantial sentences of imprisonment … and significant financial penalties to provide just punishment for this extraordinary abuse of power and betrayal of the public trust, and to deter others from ever engaging in similar conduct,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.
The 71-year-old Menendez was convicted in July 2024 of 16 corruption charges after a nine-week trial that made him the first U.S. senator ever convicted of abusing a committee leadership position and acting as a foreign agent while in office….