Bob Menendez's gold bar stash includes bars reported stolen in armed robbery a decade ago

It turns out that some of the gold bars stashed by indicted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) have a previous history in a separate crime, NBC New York reported on Monday. Specifically, four of the bars are tied to a New Jersey businessman now accused of bribing the senator, who reported them stolen in an armed robbery a decade before.

"The businessman, Fred Daibes, reported to police he was the victim of an armed robbery in 2013, and he asked police recover the gold bars stolen from him. In the 2013 robbery, Daibes reported $500,000 in cash and 22 gold bars were stolen, Edgewater police records show. Police later caught four suspects with the stolen goods," reported Jonathan Dienst, Courtney Copenhagen, and Tom Winter. "To get his property back, Daibes signed "property release forms" certifying the gold bars belonged to him, the records show."

Menendez and his wife were charged with accepting the gold bars, as well as cash and a luxury car, from Daibes and two other businessmen in return for rendering official acts. A superseding indictment by federal prosecutors further alleges Menendez and his wife also acted as unregistered foreign agents for the government of Egypt.

The two of them have denied all charges against them.

Menendez has further claimed that the vast amounts of wealth federal agents seized from his home were from his "personal savings account" kept for "emergencies" out of habit from his family "facing confiscation in Cuba."

This week, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), one of the most outspoken voices in the Senate calling for Menendez to resign, ruthlessly trolled him by buying him a Cameo session with scandal-plagued former Rep. George Santos (R-NY), who was expelled from the House last week over allegations of fraud.