U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (center right), Democrat of New Jersey, leaves with his wife Nadine Menendez Federal Court in Manhattan, New York, following his indictment on March 11, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Sen. Bob Menendez questioned a Treasury Department official Tuesday about combating illegal finance as he prepares to go on trial in a month with his wife and two other men on federal corruption charges.
“I am concerned about the exploitation of our litigation finance industry by foreign actors,” New Jersey Democrat Menendez told Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.
Menendez cited a Bloomberg Law report that showed Russian billionaires with ties to President Vladimir Putin financed bankruptcy suits in New York, despite being sanctioned following the invasion of Ukraine .
Menendez also criticized the Biden administration for failing to prevent Iran, subject to current sanctions, from selling its oil to entities in countries like China.
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you can convert those dollars into cryptocurrency and other forms to ultimately have access to them,” Menendez said.
Adeyemo said it was almost impossible for Iran to access money from the oil it sells using the traditional financial system.
However, he said Congress must act so bad actors cannot circumvent sanctions using cryptocurrencies.
“We are concerned that without action from Congress to provide us with the necessary tools, the use of virtual assets by these actors will only grow,” Adeyemo said in his opening remarks.
Republican senators on the committee attacked the Biden administration over its 2023 deal to release $6 billion in funds from Tehran to be used for humanitarian aid in exchange for the release of political prisoners in Iran.
“Iran is not our friend. Venezuela is not our friend, President Biden continues to give them money to buy weapons and try to kill us,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R -There.
Adeyemo said the funds, blocked after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, were not sent to Iran.
“None of this money went to Iran, and this money is not going directly to Iran,” Adeyemo said.
Menendez is scheduled to begin trial May 6 on nearly 20 counts related to allegedly accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and other luxury goods in exchange for helping three men business people in their transactions.. He pleaded not guilty.
His wife Nadine Menendez and two of the businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, will be tried with him.
The fifth defendant in the case, José Uribe, had already pleaded guilty and agreed to assist prosecutors.
Senator Menendez is accused of, among other things, providing sensitive information to the U.S. government that secretly aided the Egyptian government, and of pressuring a U.S. Department of Agriculture official to protect a monopoly trade in Egypt.
Menendez was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until his indictment in September.
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