Current:Home > reviewsNew Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez wants psychiatrist to testify about his habit of stockpiling cash -Excel Wealth Summit
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez wants psychiatrist to testify about his habit of stockpiling cash
View
Date:2025-04-14 02:24:19
Washington — When federal investigators executed a search warrant at Sen. Bob Menendez's New Jersey home in June 2022, they found more than $480,000 in cash stashed in envelopes and coats, as well as 13 gold bars worth more than $100,000.
They also seized nearly $80,000 from his wife's safe deposit box at a nearby bank.
After Menendez was charged last year with corruption, he explained that for 30 years he withdrew thousands of dollars each month from his personal savings account in case of emergencies. The "old-fashioned" habit, he said, had roots in his family's experience in Cuba.
In a letter that was disclosed Wednesday, the Democratic senator's attorneys argued the habit resulted from "two significant traumatic events" in his life.
A psychiatrist who evaluated Menendez would be expected to testify at trial that he "suffered intergenerational trauma stemming from his family's experience as refugees, who had their funds confiscated by the Cuban government and were left with only a small amount of cash that they had stashed away in their home," the senator's lawyers said last month in a letter to prosecutors.
The psychiatrist, Karen Rosenbaum, would also be expected to testify that he "experienced trauma when his father, a compulsive gambler, died by suicide after Senator Menendez eventually decided to discontinue paying off his father's gambling debts."
Menendez developed a mental condition, which was never treated, in response to the lifelong traumas, the letter said. The condition was redacted in the public filing.
The condition and "lack of treatment resulted in a fear of scarcity for the senator and the development of a longstanding coping mechanism of routinely withdrawing and storing cash in his home," it said.
Prosecutors, objecting to the proposed testimony, included the letter in a legal filing on Wednesday and asked the judge to prevent the psychiatrist from testifying. They asserted the psychiatrist's conclusion "does not appear to be the product of any reliable scientific principle or method" and is an attempt to gain sympathy from the jury.
If the judge allows Rosenbaum to take the witness stand, prosecutors should be able to have Menendez examined by a separate psychiatrist, they said.
Menendez's trial is set to begin on May 13.
The former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was indicted in September 2023 on charges alleging he and his wife, Nadine, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes. Prosecutors said they used his power and influence to enrich and protect three New Jersey businessmen and benefit the government of Egypt.
In the following months, superseding indictments alleged Menendez and his wife conspired to act as a foreign agent for Egypt, accepted expensive gifts in exchange for favorable comments about Qatar and obstructed the investigation into the alleged yearlong corruption scheme.
Menendez and his wife have pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
In a court filing last month, prosecutors said at least 10 envelopes containing more than $80,000 in cash had the fingerprints or DNA of one of the New Jersey businessmen, while all of the gold bars can be linked to two of them.
Some of the cash that didn't bear the associate's fingerprints "was packaged with money bands indicating it had been withdrawn, at least $10,000 at a time, from a bank at which Menendez and Nadine Menendez had no known depository account — indicating that the money had been provided to them by another person," prosecutors said.
Menendez recently indicated he might incriminate his wife, who will be tried separately this summer because of "serious medical condition" that requires surgery. Menendez's lawyers said in a legal brief that the senator might testify about communications with his wife that will demonstrate "the ways in which she withheld information" from her husband "or otherwise led him to believe that nothing unlawful was taking place."
- In:
- Bob Menendez
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at cbsnews.com and is based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
TwitterveryGood! (921)
Related
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Bethesda's 'Starfield' is a fabulous playable space opera with a forgettable story
- After Jacksonville shootings, historically Black colleges address security concerns, remain vigilant
- Uvalde mayor calls for district attorney’s resignation, new lawsuit filed
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- Judge rules for Georgia election workers in defamation suit against Rudy Giuliani over 2020 election falsehoods
- Arrest made in attempted break-in at home of UFC president Dana White
- Hiker who loses consciousness atop Mount Katahdin taken to a hospital by helicopter
- Brianna LaPaglia Reveals The Meaning Behind Her "Chickenfry" Nickname
- California panel to vote on increasing storage at site of worst US methane leak despite risks
Ranking
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- MCT oil is all the rage, but does science back up any of its claimed health benefits?
- Audit finds Wisconsin economic development agency’s performance slipping
- Kia recall to fix trunk latch that won’t open from the inside, which could leave people trapped
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Pregnant woman gives birth alone in Tennessee jail cell
- TikToker Levi Jed Murphy Reveals His Favorite Part of “Extreme” Plastic Surgery Is “Getting Content”
- Howie Mandel defends his shot at Sofía Vergara's single status: 'It's open season, people!'
Recommendation
Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
'Breaking Bad' actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul join forces on picket line
Jada Pinkett Smith Welcomes Adorable New Member to Her and Will Smith's Family
Summer School 8: Graduation and the Guppy Tank
'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
Nick Lachey Has Ultimate Reaction to Vanessa Lachey Revealing Her Celebrity Hall Pass
Trump pleads not guilty in Georgia election subversion case and says he’ll skip next week’s hearing
Man charged with hate crime for destroying LGBTQ Pride flags at Stonewall National Monument