Current:Home > NewsSen. Bob Menendez’s defense begins with sister testifying about family tradition of storing cash -AssetPath
Sen. Bob Menendez’s defense begins with sister testifying about family tradition of storing cash
View
Date:2025-04-23 17:14:55
NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Bob Menendez’s sister came to her brother’s defense Monday, testifying at the start of the defense presentation at his bribery trial that she wasn’t surprised to learn that the Democrat stored cash at home because “it’s a Cuban thing.”
Caridad Gonzalez, 80, was called by Menendez’s lawyers to support their argument that hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash found in the Menendez’s residence during a 2022 raid was not unusual for a man whose parents fled Cuba in 1951 with only the cash hidden at home.
“It’s normal. It’s a Cuban thing,” she said when she was asked for her reaction to Menendez directing her to pull $500 in $100 bills from a boot-sized box in a closet of his daughter’s bedroom in the 1980s when she worked for him as a legal secretary.
She testified that everyone who left Cuba in the 1960s and 1970s kept cash at home because “they were afraid of losing what they worked so hard for because, in Cuba, they took everything away from you.”
Prosecutors say more than $486,000 in cash, over $100,000 in gold bars and a luxury car found at the Menendez home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, during the 2022 raid were bribe proceeds.
Menendez, 70, was born in Manhattan and raised in the New Jersey cities of Hoboken and Union City before practicing as a lawyer and launching his political career, Gonzalez said.
He has pleaded not guilty to bribery, fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt.
He is on trial with two New Jersey businessmen who pleaded not guilty after they were accused of paying him bribes to get favors that would aid them in their business and investment pursuits. A third businessman pleaded guilty and testified against his codefendants.
Menendez’s wife, Nadine, has pleaded not guilty to charges in the case, although her trial has been postponed while she recovers from breast cancer surgery.
During her testimony, Gonzalez told the dramatic story of her family’s exit from Cuba, saying they had a comfortable existence that included a chauffeur and enabled them to become the first family in their neighborhood to get a television before a competitor of her father’s tie and bow tie business used his influence to disrupt their life.
She said the man wanted her father to close his business and work for him and enlisted four police officers and two government officials to ransack their home one day.
She said her father stored his cash in a secret compartment of a grandfather clock that went undiscovered during the raid.
Once the family moved to America and the future senator was born, the story of their escape and the importance of the cash became a topic told over dinner as her father recounted Cuba’s history, she said.
“Daddy always said: ‘Don’t trust the banks. If you trust the banks, you never know what can happen. So you must always have money at home,’” she recalled.
She said other members of her family stored cash at home too, including an aunt whose home burned down without destroying the $60,000 in cash she had stored in the basement.
veryGood! (678)
Related
- Juan Soto to be introduced by Mets at Citi Field after striking record $765 million, 15
- Kelis and Bill Murray Are Sparking Romance Rumors and the Internet Is Totally Shaken Up
- Amy Schumer Calls Out Celebrities for “Lying” About Using Ozempic
- New Parents Robert De Niro and Tiffany Chen Sneak Out for Red Carpet Date Night
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Plan to Burn Hurricane Debris Sparks Health Fears in U.S. Virgin Islands
- Climate Change Will Hit Southern Poor Hardest, U.S. Economic Analysis Shows
- The BET Award Nominations 2023 Are Finally Here: See the Full List
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Son Prince Archie Receives Royally Sweet 4th Birthday Present
Ranking
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Warming Trends: The Top Plastic Polluter, Mother-Daughter Climate Talk and a Zero-Waste Holiday
- Joey Chestnut remains hot dog eating champ. Here's how many calories he consumed during the event.
- The Paris Agreement Was a First Step, Not an End Goal. Still, the World’s Nations Are Far Behind
- Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
- Texas teen who reportedly vanished 8 years ago while walking his dogs is found alive
- Confidential Dakota Pipeline Memo: Standing Rock Not a Disadvantaged Community Impacted by Pipeline
- High-Stakes Fight Over Rooftop Solar Spreads to Michigan
Recommendation
Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
Appalachia’s Strip-Mined Mountains Face a Growing Climate Risk: Flooding
California lawmakers to weigh over 100 recommendations from reparations task force
Power Plants’ Coal Ash Reports Show Toxics Leaking into Groundwater
Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
They Built a Life in the Shadow of Industrial Tank Farms. Now, They’re Fighting for Answers.
Dissecting ‘Unsettled,’ a Skeptical Physicist’s Book About Climate Science
YouTuber Grace Helbig reveals breast cancer diagnosis: It's very surreal