The New Jersey developer convicted with Bob Menendez pleads guilty to bank fraud

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey real estate developer convicted alongside Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez this summer pleaded guilty to a separate bank fraud charge, prosecutors said Thursday.

Fred Daibes, 67, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Newark, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement. He was charged with making false statements concerning a 2008 loan.

While Daibes was chairman and CEO at Mariner’s Bank, he falsely said another person was the borrower on a $1.8 million loan when in fact the line of credit was for him, prosecutors said.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a top fine of $1 million.

Daibes, Menendez and a third businessman, Wael Hanna, were convicted in July on bribery charges stemming from what prosecutors said was a scheme in which the three-term senator took cash, gold bars and a car in exchange for helping them. Another businessman, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty, while attorneys for Menendez, Hana and Daibes plan to appeal.

Nadine Menendez, the senator’s wife, was also charged and pleaded not guilty but has yet to go on trial.

Prosecutors had initially charged the developer in 2018 over the loan fraud. Prosecutors on the bribery case said the senator met with Philip Sellinger, a prospective U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, and was fixated on Daibes and ensuring that he could get sympathetic treatment.

Menendez initially rejected Sellinger as a candidate after their December 2020 job interview because the lawyer told him he’d represented Daibes before and would likely have to recuse himself from any case involving the developer, according to the 2023 indictment of Menendez and the others.

When another candidate fell through, Menendez ultimately recommended him for the job. After Sellinger was sworn in, the Department of Justice had him step aside from the Daibes prosecution.