 Senator Menendez guilty. The verdict is in. A federal jury in Manhattan, New York, unanimously finding U.S. Democratic Senator from New Jersey, Robert Menendez, guilty on all counts, 16 of them for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, mortgage payments, a luxury car, and more in bribes in exchange for his political influence. Prosecutors claim the 70-year-old Menendez put the power of his office up for sale to three New Jersey businessmen seeking political help in the U.S., as well as in Egypt and Qatar.