New Jersey
Prosecutors in Sen. Menendez's corruption trial shift focus to Qatar • New Jersey Monitor
Sen. Bob Menendez saw his fortunes climb even before Fred Daibes snagged a $95 million investment from a Qatari royal for a planned development along the Hudson River, according to testimony Thursday in his federal bribery trial in Manhattan.
Over several months in 2021 and early 2022, New Jersey’s senior senator researched the value of gold and luxury watches online while his wife scheduled tours of multi-million-dollar mansions for sale in Alpine and Englewood Cliffs and accepted a gifted lounge chair and Formula 1 race tickets for her son.
At the center of it all was Daibes, acting so much like Santa Claus that Nadine Menendez texted him: “Thank you. Christmas in January.”
On the 21st day of Menendez’s trial Thursday, prosecutors focused on Daibes and their claims that he schemed to hook Qatari investors by bribing Menendez to publicly praise the small Arab country on the Persian Gulf.
Jurors heard from FBI special agent Paul Van Wie, who laid out a timeline of texts, calls, encrypted messages, and other communications that show Menendez connected Daibes with Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani, whose brother is Qatar’s emir, and Ali Al Thawadi, the sheikh’s chief of staff. The sheikh heads the largest construction and real estate company in Qatar and advises the emir on investments in the U.S., testimony showed.
When the sheikh’s investment adviser learned Daibes had been federally charged in a 2018 bank fraud case and urged the sheikh to reconsider, Menendez called and met with the sheikh and other Qatari officials in what prosecutors suggested was an attempt to smooth things over.
“I hope that this will result in the favorable and mutually beneficial agreement that you both have been engaged in discussing,” Menendez wrote to bin Jassim in an encrypted WhatsApp message in January 2022.
To sweeten the deal for the Qataris, prosecutors say Menendez shepherded a resolution praising Qatar’s humanitarian work through the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he then chaired, and issued a related press release that he forwarded to Daibes first, texts showed.
“You might want to send it to them. I am just about to release,” the senator told Daibes.
Daibes did just that, assuring the Qatari officials “our mutual friend” would issue it within days.
“At last,” the sheikh responded.
“It’s very good,” his chief of staff agreed.
In May 2022, Daibes and Heritage Advisers, a London-based investment firm the sheikh founded, signed a $190 million deal, with the sheikh footing half of it, according to documents Van Wie presented.
Many of the messages and documents Van Wie presented Thursday, under questioning by prosecutor Paul Monteleoni, seemed intended to prove the quid pro quo part of their argument — revealing the bribes the Menendezes allegedly accepted for the senator’s intervention and influence.
One exchange showed Daibes connected Nadine Menendez with the Tenafly real estate agent who scheduled tours for her of two homes priced at over $4 million.
Another showed that Menendez himself asked Al Thawadi for the Formula 1 tickets, saying Nadine Menendez’s son and his fiancee wanted them.
“Thank you. He is thrilled and so is his mother,” the senator texted Al Thawadi after receiving the tickets.
Defense attorney Avi Weitzman cast doubt on some testimony, like prosecutors’ claim that Daibes gave Menendez a new recliner as a bribe when the senator struggled to heal from a shoulder injury. Van Wie acknowledged under Weitzman’s questioning that prosecutors didn’t show jurors all of the Menendezes’ messages with others involved, including one text suggesting the recliner was a used loaner or hand-me-down.
“That chair has saved so many people in our family!” Daibes’ sister texted Nadine Menendez.
As for the luxury watches, Daibes shared screenshots of Patek Philippe watches ranging in price from about $10,000 to almost $30,000 with Menendez in 2021, asking which he liked, Van Wie testified. But prosecutors offered no receipts or messages proving a purchase occurred, and investigators found no such watches during a June 2022 search of the couple’s Englewood Cliffs home, testimony showed.
Earlier Thursday, prosecutors focused on Menendez’s effort to derail the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s 2018 bank fraud probe of Daibes.
“He is FIXATED on it,” Nadine Menendez assured Daibes by text.
Philip Sellinger, New Jersey’s U.S. attorney, previously told jurors that Menendez asked him to “look at” prosecutors’ handling of Daibes’ case and ended their longtime friendship when Sellinger reported he had a conflict of interest, prompting his Department of Justice bosses to recuse him from the case in December 2021. The recusal left Sellinger’s first assistant, Vikas Khanna, in charge of Daibes’ case.
Thursday, Van Wie presented documents and messages showing that Menendez subsequently researched and communicated with Khanna. The documents also showed that Menendez admonished Daibes’ attorney on a January 2022 phone call for being a “wuss” and not pushing the U.S. Attorney’s Office aggressively enough to dismiss the case, and that Daibes rejected two plea offers before prosecutors agreed in February 2022 to Daibes’ request for probation.
“He is an amazing friend, and as loyal as they come,” Daibes gushed about the senator in an email to Nadine Menendez.
The trial is expected to resume Monday morning, with cross-examination of Van Wie continuing and Khanna and Sarah Arkin, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer, taking the stand.
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Blacksmith Triangle, the site of a former gas station at the corner of North Olden and Lawrence avenues in Trenton, has taken on a new life as the city’s latest green space.
New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJ Conservation), in partnership with the City of Trenton and other environmental and community organizations, worked to transform the site into a forested park addition over the last two years. Improvements included site clearing and grading, seeding, new sidewalks, bollards, a brick-paved entry plaza, and 14 honey locust trees. The project’s completion was celebrated in May.
The City remediated Blacksmith Triangle years ago to clean up the contamination left behind from its former use as a gas station. But until recently it remained covered with concrete and asphalt and was often used as a de facto parking lot. In 2024, NJ Conservation received a grant from the Licensed Site Remediation Professionals Association Foundation to plant trees on the site, which spurred conversations with Trenton officials about turning the lot into a forested plaza and gateway to George Page Park and the Assunpink Greenway. Construction began in December 2025, thanks to a significant financial contribution from the City of Trenton and additional funding secured by NJ Conservation from private donors.
With this new green space, project leaders aim to increase shade for city residents, who are experiencing disproportionate impacts of climate change. Trenton neighborhoods are dealing with the ‘heat island effect’ that causes higher ambient temperatures in urban areas than in suburban and rural areas.
“Excessive heat is deadly in our communities, and this work will help future generations of Trentonians cope with the rising temperatures that will come with our new climate realities,” said Jay Watson, NJ Conservation’s Senior Fellow for Conservation Justice. “New Jersey Conservation Foundation is proud to do this green infrastructure work in our capital city.”
At a grand opening celebration for Blacksmith Triangle last month, Paul Harris, Trenton’s Director of Recreation, Natural Resources, and Culture, said the City is excited about the lot’s transformation, highlighting the partnership that made the project possible.
“Our goal is to green as much of the town as we can, but in order to do that successfully, we need to bring on partners,” said Harris.
The revitalization of Blacksmith Triangle is part of a larger greening effort throughout the city. NJ Conservation and its partners — City of Trenton, Isles, the New Jersey Tree Foundation, the Watershed Institute, and the Outdoor Equity Alliance — are working to build a greener, more equitable New Jersey through the Trees for Trenton program. Thanks to a grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, 1,000 shade trees are being planted throughout Trenton, creating a healthier environment for residents and visitors.
Trees for Trenton was announced in 2023 at an Arbor Day celebration when the first trees were planted at Mulberry Street Park. More than 900 trees have been planted throughout the city since then.
(Courtesy of New Jersey Conservation Foundation)
About New Jersey Conservation Foundation
Recognizing that a healthy environment is critical to the well-being and survival of all living things, New Jersey Conservation Foundation is devoted to preserving land and protecting natural resources throughout New Jersey’s rural, suburban, and urban landscapes.
Since 1960, the nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide organization has preserved more than 140,000 acres of open space, farmland, and parks. The organization manages more than a dozen nature preserves, conducts public outreach and education programs, and advocates for sensible land use and climate policies that will protect the health of New Jersey’s plants, wildlife, and people for generations to come.
Courtesy of New Jersey Conservation Foundation
How to protect your NJ home from wind: Video
Here’s how to windproof your home to minimize damage, and what to do if a tree falls on your property as a result of the weather
A severe thunderstorm watch looms over North Jersey on the evening of June 12 after days of extreme heat.
Nation Weather Service New York declared a severe thunderstorm watch for numerous North Jersey counties including Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex, Morris and Sussex among other Central Jersey and New York counties. The watch is in effect until 9 p.m., according to the NWS statement.
In an hourly forecast from The Weather Channel for Paramus, there is a 74% chance of thunderstorms at 7 p.m.
High temperatures reached past 90 degrees in many parts of North Jersey on June 11 and June 12 as a heat advisory also remains in effect until 8 p.m., said NWS New York.
“Dangerous heat is expected to continue across much of our region through today, with several record highs likely to be challenged again. High temperatures are forecast to peak into the low to mid 90s across most of the area,” the National Weather Service said Friday.
A Heat Advisory is in effect until 8 p.m. across the state except for Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties.
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