NJ developer Fred Daibes wants acquittal and new trial in Menendez case

A North Jersey construction contractor who was among businessmen found guilty along with Senator Bob Menendez of bribery, fraud and obstruction of justice has asked for an acquittal and a retrial, saying the evidence was insufficient after his conduct was excluded as evidence in the months-long trial.

Fred Daibes, a prominent Bergen County contractor, said in documents filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that he should be acquitted of all charges and be given a new trial based on three main points:

Daibes' conviction was not supported by the evidence and was based on improper speculation and inferences by the jury.
The Court's failure to exclude Daibes's gift evidence, combined with the Government's impermissible references to gift-giving, constituted a manifest injustice.
Daibes also includes all other arguments of co-defendants Menendez and Hana in 33 motions and legal opinions.

Daibes was found guilty on multiple counts of bribery and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors alleged he bribed the senator with cash and gold bars to improve his business dealings with Qatar.

Manhattan, NY – October 18, 2023 – Fred Daibes, involved in the Senator Robert Menendez bribery case, enters federal court in Lower Manhattan for a hearing on corruption charges.

The developer is facing federal charges of bank fraud. Prosecutors said the senator recommended that President Joe Biden appoint a U.S. attorney whom he could influence in Daibes' favor.

In 2018, Daibes was indicted on 14 counts in federal court for allegedly evading loans through a bank he founded and later chaired.

In the bank case, the government said Daibes and Michael McManus, chief financial officer of Edgewater-based Daibes Enterprises, used other people not named in the indictment to secure millions of dollars in loans. The loans were used to benefit Daibes without the knowledge of the bank or Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. regulators, prosecutors said. The activities allegedly took place from 2008 to 2013.

Days after Menendez was indicted in the bribery and corruption case in October, the judge in that case rejected Daibes and McManus's settlements in the bench case. Daibes later withdrew his settlement.

His trial is scheduled to begin in October in federal court in Newark.

Menendez is expected to resign from his Senate seat on Tuesday and late last week withdrew his independent candidacy for this fall.

“No rational juror”

Daibes' lawyers from the César de Castro law firm argued that “no reasonable” jury could find Daibes guilty on all counts of the scheme brought by the prosecution.

“No reasonable juror could have concluded that the evidence sufficiently established the connection between the money and gold related to Mr. Daibes seized from the Menendezes' home and any official acts of the Senator,” the lawyers argued in court documents.

Instead, the government found that Daibes had given the Menendezes “some items of value” over a two-year period.

Had the court admitted evidence, it would have shown the jury that there would have been “nothing unusual” in giving the amount of cash and gold associated with Mr Daibes to a friend with whom he had been friends for over 30 years.

“The government has failed to adequately demonstrate how, when, why, or under what circumstances Mr. Daibes transferred items of value to Nadine or Senator Menendez,” the court documents state.

Daibes' lawyers said “no reasonable juror” could conclude that an official lawsuit on behalf of IS EG Halal – in which Daibes has no ownership interest – would benefit the government of Qatar or the appointment of the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.

IS EG Halal's U.S. headquarters are in Edgewater, in a building owned by Daibes and across the street from Daibes' own office.

“The evidence showed that it was just as likely that Mr. Daibes' gold or cash was a gift, a lawful payment, a tip, or something else unrelated to any of the schemes charged as it was a bribe,” Daibes' lawyers said.

Gifts were “out of friendship”

Prosecutors argued that the envelopes of cash and the kilograms of gold bars, each worth $60,000, were not given solely “out of the goodness of the heart.”

The defense attempted to call witnesses to testify about specific instances in which Daibes allegedly gave away thousands of dollars in cash and gold “out of friendship.” The judge rejected that evidence.

The prosecutors' comments about Daibes in their closing argument had “perverted the verdict” and were the reason why a retrial must be granted, the lawyers said.

“In essence, the court, through its instructions to the jury, as they did in the gifts case, provided Mr. Daibes with a gun but stripped him of any ammunition, rendering the gun meaningless. In its closing arguments, the government seized the gun, loaded it with ammunition, and turned it on the defense when it repeatedly pointed to the lack of evidence in the record of the specific acts of Mr. Daibes' gifts,” the attorneys said.

NJ developer Fred Daibes wants acquittal and new trial in Menendez case

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NJ developer Fred Daibes wants acquittal and new trial in Menendez case

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