Bob Menendez tried to influence Gurbir Grewal: report

Indicted US Senator Bob Menendez is speculated to have contacted New Jersey’s former Indian American Attorney General Gurbir Grewal in an attempt to influence the prosecution of a businessman.

Grewal is mentioned as “Official-2” in the indictment of Menendez, the New Jersey Globe claimed suggesting that Grewal likely would be a government witness against the senator.

READ: SEC appoints Indian American Gurbir Grewal as Director of Enforcement (July 1, 2021)

Federal prosecutors as cited by the Globe claim that Menendez contacted Grewal in January 2019 in an attempt to influence the prosecution of Jose Uribe, a businessman, allegedly in exchange for the purchase of a $60,000 Mercedes convertible for the senator’s wife, Nadine.

“Specifically, Menendez contacted a senior state prosecutor in the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General who supervised the prosecution of the New Jersey Defendant and the investigation involving the New Jersey Investigative Subject (“Official-2”) in an attempt, through advice and pressure, to cause Official2 to resolve these matters favorably to the New Jersey Defendant and the New Jersey investigative subject,” the indictment said.

The indictment says the official – Grewal – “considered Robert Menendez’s actions inappropriate and did not agree to intervene.”

NJ Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla honored at 2019 SALDEF gala (April 11, 2019)

“After being contacted by Menendez, to avoid any potential inappropriate influence in the case, Official-2 (Grewal) did not share with the prosecution team that Menendez had contacted him about the matter, and did not intervene in the matter,” prosecutors claim.

Uribe ultimately pled guilty to the charges filed by the state after the attorney general’s office entered into a plea agreement that recommended no jail time.

“This resolution was more favorable for the New Jersey Defendant than the prosecutors’ initial plea offer earlier in the case,” the indictment stated.

After a dinner with Menendez and his wife, Wael Hanna, the North Jersey businessman who allegedly received a lucrative exclusive contract from the Egyptian government to inspect Halal meat with Menendez’s health, sent Nadine Menendez a series of text messages with details about Uribe’s prosecution, prosecutors allege.

Meet Gurbir Grewal, America’s first Sikh attorney general (January 18, 2018)

About two days later, Menendez “requested and received multiple text messages” from his wife about Uribe, which Nadine Menendez “requested and received from Hana.”

In July 2019, after a New Jersey detective sought to interview a potential witness connected to Uribe, Menendez agreed to make a second attempt to intervene with Grewal.

Around September 6, 2019, Menendez met with Official-2 – Grewal – at his Newark Senate office and “through advice and pressure, to cause Official-2 to favorably resolve the investigation.” Menendez told Uribe he thought the meeting was “very positive.”

Hana and Uribe were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, and one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.

Grewal left the attorney general’s office in 2021 to become the director of the Division of Enforcement at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Before becoming New Jersey’s attorney general, Grewal served as Bergen County Prosecutor. Additionally, he was an Assistant US Attorney in the Criminal Division of the US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where he served as Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit from 2014 to 2016, overseeing the investigation and prosecution of all major white-collar and cybercrimes in the state.

He also previously worked in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where he was assigned to the Business and Securities Fraud Unit.

Grewal graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1995. He obtained his law degree from the College of William & Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law in 1999.