Jose Uribe Expected to Testify in Menendez Trial
Jose Uribe is cooperating with the government. Prosecutors say he sought Senator Robert Menendez’s help to stave off fraud investigations into two allies.Until recently, Jose Uribe was an obscure New Jersey businessman who had been caught up in what prosecutors say was a sprawling and lucrative bribery scheme involving Senator Robert Menendez and others.But after Mr. Uribe pleaded guilty in March to trying to bribe Mr. Menendez and agreed to cooperate with the authorities, he vaulted into a more prominent position: star government witness.On Friday, Mr. Uribe is expected to testify against Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors said, as the senator’s corruption trial ends its fourth week.The senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are charged with conspiring to accept cash, gold bullion and other bribes collectively worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for Mr. Menendez’s agreement to direct aid to Egypt and to meddle in criminal cases in New Jersey. One of those cases involved Mr. Uribe.Who Are Key Players in the Menendez Case?Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are accused of taking part in a wide-ranging, international bribery scheme that lasted five years. Take a closer look at central figures related to the case.Prosecutors say Mr. Uribe, a former insurance broker who worked in the trucking industry, sought the senator’s help to stave off criminal investigations the New Jersey attorney general’s office was conducting into two of Mr. Uribe’s associates. In return, an indictment says, Mr. Uribe helped to buy Ms. Menendez, then the senator’s girlfriend, a new Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible worth more than $60,000.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More