U.S, Senator Bob Menendez (Blue Political Team- New Jersey) got caught with his hand in the halal jar. NBC News reported federal agents found forbidden booty during their years long investigation:
Agents found more than $480,000 in cash, “much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe,” including jackets bearing the senator’s name that were hanging in his closet, as well as more than $70,000 in Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box, the indictment alleges.
Menendez "dismissed the allegations against him in a statement, saying prosecutors have 'misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office.'"
So the "normal work" of a Congressman is to personally profit from the application of influence on behalf of "insiders?" Thank you for that clarification, Senator!
Menendez' insiders included the founder of IS EG Halal. In early 2020 the Egyptian Prime Minister decreed the company as the only entity capable of granting halal certification.
This decree legitimizes the establishment of IS EG Halal (Edgewater, New Jersey) as Egypt’s sole authorized halal certification entity in the United States for food and beverage products exported to Egypt.
It also established IS EG Latin America SRL for certifying food exports from Latin and South America.
IS EG Halal's website states:
“Halal” in Arabic means permissible or lawful. When it is applied to food or other goods it denotes specific regulations as to which types of food/drink Muslims can consume as well as how those products are prepared.
So why did IS EG Halal's founder need Senator Menendez? The indictment states:
Menendez "provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt." It also says the senator pressured an official at the U.S. Agriculture Department for the purpose of protecting a business monopoly granted by Egypt to Hana, who is an Egyptian American.
According to the indictment, Hana and Nadine Menendez "were friends for many years" before she started dating the senator. In early 2018, she informed Hana that she was dating Menendez and "in the following months and years," they worked to introduce Egyptian intelligence and military officials to the senator "for the purpose of establishing and solidifying a corrupt agreement" in which Hana, with assistance from the two other businessmen, "provided hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes" to the senator and his wife "in exchange for Menendez's acts and breaches of duty to benefit the Government of Egypt, Hana, and others, including with respect to foreign military sales and foreign military financing," the filing alleges.
With Senator Menendez even the date he met his current wife is under a cloud of suspicion.
Open Secrets showed Menendez' top donors from 2017-2022. Two of the top five are private equity underwriters (PEU). Blackstone and Apollo Global Management came in at #3 and #5. The PEU boys are masters at tapping Uncle Sam's wallet and keeping their unjust preferred "carried interest" taxation in place.
Everything about IS EG Halal reads PEU. Worldwide franchise established by Egyptian government. Check.
Product becomes prohibitively more expensive due to change. Check.
After Egypt disqualified the four previously designated companies, the price paid by retailers to get certified halal beef was expected to increase to about $200 a metric ton, up from about $20, according to a USDA report.History doesn't repeat, but it echoes. Recall the bribery of the wife of Congressman John Conyers by Synagro Corporation, an affiliate of The Carlyle Group, another politically connected PEU? Conyers said at the time:
"Public officials must expect to be held to the highest ethical and legal standards."
The system is designed to produce otherwise.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU, and increasingly, more are one.
Update 9-26-23: The indictment can be found here.
