Federal prosecutors are asking that former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez receive a sentence of 15 years in prison after being found guilty on felony bribery charges.
In a Thursday night filing, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein to levy a sentence that could place the 71-year-old behind bars for much of the rest of his life.
Menendez resigned in August after nearly two decades in the Senate. He was convicted last July on charges of bribery, extortion, obstruction of justice, and a slew of related crimes. Prosecutors alleged that Menendez abused his seat as the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to enrich himself, taking bribes in the form of gold bars and a new car in exchange for political favors. They also alleged that the formerly powerful Democrat served as a foreign agent for Egypt.
Prosecutors say the grave nature of the charges necessitates a lengthy sentence.
“The defendants’ crimes amount to an extraordinary attempt, at the highest levels of the Legislative Branch, to corrupt the nation’s core sovereign powers over foreign relations and law enforcement,” they wrote in the filing.
Probation officers who spoke to Reuters estimated that sentencing guidelines for Menendez's 16 convictions would merit anywhere from a 24 to 30-year stint in prison. Menendez’s attorneys asked for a substantially shorter stint, calling a potential 12-year stay in prison a "death sentence" for the elderly ex-senator.
Menendez’s attorneys asked for leniency and placed responsibility for the bribes on Menendez’s wife, who is awaiting trial.
“The evidence showed that Senator Menendez was unaware of activities that Nadine was undertaking,” Menendez’s lawyers wrote earlier this month, per the New York Times.
