The new charges against the Menendezes appear related to information that was provided to the government by Mr. Uribe, who in court on Friday described meeting with Ms. Menendez at a Marriott Hotel after receiving a subpoena in the case.
Mr. Uribe said in court that Ms. Menendez had wanted to get their stories straight about a Mercedes-Benz convertible he had given her as a bribe.
“She asked what was I going to say if somebody asked me about the car payments,” Mr. Uribe said.
In the new charges, prosecutors say that Mr. and Ms. Menendez paid Mr. Uribe back for the payments he had made on the Mercedes and falsely referred to that money as a “loan” in conversations with their lawyers, deliberately mischaracterizing the transaction.
As a result, the indictment charges, Mr. Menendez in June “caused his then counsel to make false and misleading statements to the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.” Two months later, Ms. Menendez did the same.
Persons:
Uribe, Menendez, “, Mr
Organizations:
Marriott, Benz, Mercedes, Southern, of
Locations:
United States, of New York