What's in the Senator Robert Menendez indictment? Gold bars and stacks of cash

When federal agents searched the home of a US senator, they found "a lot of gold", more than $480,000 (£390,000) in hidden cash, and much more, according to an indictment unsealed on Friday.

Robert Menendez and his wife are accused of participating in a bribery scheme to secretly aid the Egyptian government.

The indictment contains three counts against the couple as well as charges against three New Jersey businessmen alleged to have paid the bribes.

Both Mr and Mrs Menendez have issued denials.

Here's a closer look at the allegations and the characters involved.

Who is Robert Menendez?

Mr Menendez has served as the US senator for New Jersey since 2006.

As the top-ranking Democrat on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the last five years, he has had influence over US foreign policy, including on Russia, China and the Middle East.

A son of Cuban immigrants, the 69-year-old senator is also active on immigration issues.

This is not the first time Mr Menendez has been criminally charged. He was previously indicted in New Jersey in 2015, on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of bribery, having allegedly accepted luxury holidays from a wealthy Florida eye doctor.

That case ended in a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

Senator Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian each face three charges

Who is his wife, Nadine Menendez?

Mr Menendez divorced his first wife, Jane, in 2005, and married Nadine Arslanian in 2020.

According to reports, Mr Menendez had met her almost a decade earlier at IHOP, a chain restaurant, but their relationship only began in 2018.

He proposed to her by singing in front of the Taj Mahal, a video posted online shows.

The justice department says the 56-year-old was unemployed before she became romantically involved with the senator.

She has been married before, with the New York Times reporting that she struggled financially after a 2005 divorce. The indictment alleges that, in 2019, a co-defendant in the alleged bribery scheme paid $23,000 on her mortgage to help her avoid repossession.

The couple just celebrated their third wedding anniversary.

What did the FBI find in the Menendez home?

In June 2022, federal agents executing a search warrant at the couple's New Jersey home discovered "the fruits" of a "corrupt bribery agreement", the indictment says.

Gold bars worth over $100,000 were found, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, some stuffed into envelopes hidden in clothes in the closet. Prosecutors say the couple also had nearly $80,000 in a safe deposit box at a local bank.

Federal prosecutors said they found 3kg worth of gold in the Menendez home

Investigators identified a Google search for "kilo of gold price" on Mr Menendez's computer. They also discovered the fingerprints and DNA of one of his co-defendants on an envelope of cash.

Agents say they also found a luxury Mercedes-Benz paid for by one of the businessmen parked in the garage.

The indictment says that after the couple received the car, Mrs Menendez texted her husband to say: "Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes."

Other home furnishings, including an air purifier and exercise equipment, had also been paid for, according to the indictment.

Who are the three New Jersey businessmen?

The three co-defendants in the indictment, described as "New Jersey associates and businessmen", are Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes.

Mr Hana was friends "for many years" with Mrs Menendez before she began her relationship with the senator, and maintained "close connections with Egyptian officials", the charging document states.

He introduced Mr Uribe - a friend and convicted fraudster who works in the trucking and insurance business, according to the indictment - to the couple in 2018.

Mr Daibes, also a friend of Mr Hana, was a "long-time fundraiser" for the senator, the indictment says.

A real estate developer and the founder of a New Jersey-based bank, Mr Daibes too has had previous run-ins with the law. The indictment says that, he was charged in 2018 with obtaining loans "under false pretences" from his bank.

Some of the cash federal agents found was located in a customised jacket with Robert Menendez's name

What are the five defendants charged with?

Each defendant faces counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.

Mr and Mrs Menendez face an additional count each: conspiracy to commit extortion under colour of official right.

They are each asked to forfeit several of their assets, including the senator's New Jersey home and the Mercedes-Benz.

Prosecutors allege Bob and Nadine Menendez accepted bribes to secretly aid the Egyptian government

Prosecutors allege Mrs Menendez worked with Mr Hana, who is originally from Egypt, to introduce her husband to Egyptian intelligence and military officials.

Text messages between Mrs Menendez and Mr Hana were deleted from her mobile phone, according to the government.

The indictment alleges the two had a "corrupt agreement" in which Mr Hana arranged and paid for a series of meetings and dinners between the senator and Egyptian official to discuss how he could facilitate military financing and sales.

On one occasion, prosecutors say, Mr Menendez secretly ghost-wrote a letter on behalf of the Egyptian government seeking to convince other US senators to release a hold on $300m in aid.

In another instance, the lawmaker is accused of pressuring an official at the US Department of Agriculture to stop opposing Mr Hana's company as the sole halal certifier for US meats exported to Egypt, a field in which the company had no previous experience.

The halal certification monopoly allegedly enabled Mr Hana to pay bribes to Mr Menendez.

In exchange for the senator's "promise" to use his power and influence, Mr Hana allegedly agreed to add Mrs Menendez to the payroll of his company in a "low-or-no-show" job.

The Mercedes Benz was one of several gifts allegedly given to Robert Menendez for his participation in a bribery scheme

Mr Daibes allegedly offered "financial support and backing" for Mr Hana and "provided payments in furtherance of the scheme".

Mr Uribe is said to have "worked to facilitate the payments" to Mrs Menendez and, in exchange, the senator worked to "disrupt the prosecution" of his insurance fraud case.

Mr Menendez allegedly also used his influence to push for the nomination of a US attorney he believed could sway the criminal prosecution of Mr Daibes for bank fraud.

He is said to have accepted the Mercedes-Benz convertible, paid for by Mr Hana and Mr Uribe, in exchange for impeding a state criminal prosecution into an associate of Mr Uribe.