Uribe, who works in trucking and insurance, was indicted in Manhattan federal court in September along with Menendez, Menendez's wife, Nadine, and two New Jersey businessmen.
Uribe, who lives in Clifton, New Jersey, and two other men were accused of having a “corrupt relationship” with Menendez.
The senator allegedly accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, home mortgage payments and other items as part of the relationship.
Menendez and the rest of the defendants have all pleaded not guilty in the case.
In 2019, prosecutors said Uribe and another defendant in the case, Wael Hana, offered to help Menendez buy a Mercedes worth more than $60,000.
In return, Sen. Menendez sought to interfere with the New Jersey attorney general's investigation into the criminal insurance fraud investigation of an associate of Uribe and a related investigation of an employee of Uribe, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Southern District of New York.
Uribe gave Nadine Menendez $15,000 in cash for a down payment on a Mercedes in April 2019, prosecutors said.
“Subsequently, Uribe made monthly payments to Mercedes-Benz in exchange between 2019 and June 2022,” the U.S. Attorney's Office said in September. “Uribe stopped those monthly payments only after the FBI contacted Menendez, Nadine Menendez and Uribe in connection with this investigation.”
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