New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez maintained his innocence after the stunning guilty verdicts delivered in his federal corruption after three days of deliberations on Tuesday.
The jury delivered all guilty verdicts for Menendez and his co-defendants on 16 charges, including bribery, conspiracy, fraud and making false statements.
New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes were co-defendants in the case.
"I never violated my public oath," the senator said on the courthouse steps. "I have never, ever been a foreign agent."
His legal team plans to appeal the decision.
Judge Sidney Stein has set Menendez's sentencing date for October 29.
U.S. Attorney of Southern District of New York Damian Williams said after the verdict said this was a case of "shocking levels of corruption."
He described the trial as an example of "politics for profit" which has finally come to an end.
During the nine-week trial, prosecutors claimed that Menendez "put his power up for sale" by performing political favors in exchange for lavish gifts, such as cash, gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, furniture and payments on a home mortgage.
The defense claimed the case was based on "guesswork" and there was insufficient evidence to prove that Menendez was guilty.
The senator's wife, Nadine Menendez, was also charged, but she has not gone to trial yet. She is considered to be an instrumental piece in the alleged scheme and her name was invoked frequently throughout the proceedings.
She was originally scheduled to be tried alongside the other three, but her trial was delayed until August. Robert Menendez announced that his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in May, as his trial was starting.
"We are, of course, concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease," the senator previously said in a statement.
The alleged corruption began in 2018, around the time when Robert Menendez and Nadine Menendez started dating, prosecutors said.
"When Hana learned Nadine was dating a senator, he saw an opportunity," U.S. Prosecutor Lara Pomerantz said during opening statements.
One strategy the defense employed was arguing that the senator was not aware of his wife's involvement in deals with several businessmen. They claimed she made these dealings because she was having financial problems, but she did not want her husband to know.
"Let me say this about Nadine: Nadine had financial concerns that she kept from Bob," defense attorney Avi Weitzman said in his opening statement.
Robert Menendez was previously on trial for corruption in 2017.
The senator, who was first elected in 2006, is facing a tough re-election race in November. He announced he will run as an independent in June, in the middle of his trial, despite several Democratic colleagues calling on him to resign. He will face off against Democratic nominee Rep. Andy Kim and Republican nominee and entrepreneur Curtis Bashaw.
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Jenna Sundel is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on breaking news. Jenna joined Newsweek ... Read more
