(29 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York – 29 January 2025
1. Wide of attorney Lawrence Lustberg, and his client Wael Hana, as Lustberg speaks to reporters
2. Lustberg leading Hana to his vehicle, Hana climbing into vehicle and door closing
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lawrence Lustberg, Attorney for Wael Hana:
“Today’s sentencing was the culmination of a trial that was unfair and reached an inaccurate result. Mr. Hana is completely innocent. He never bribed anybody at any time. And today, not only is there a judgment of conviction against him, but there’s an excessive sentence. We are confident that we will prevail on appeal. And we have a number of very compelling cutting-edge legal issues. And we are hopeful that he’ll stay out pending appeal. As the court said today, we can file our motion for bail pending appeal next week, which we will do.”
4. Wide of Lustberg speaking to reporters
STORYLINE:
The attorney for a New Jersey businessman convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison Wednesday for paying bribes to former Sen. Bob Menendez says he plans to appeal his sentencing.
Lawrence Lustberg, who represents Wael Hana, said outside a Manhattan courthouse that his client was “completely innocent.”
“He never bribed anybody at any time. And today, not only is there a judgment of conviction against him, but there’s an excessive sentence,” Lustberg told The Associated Press.
On Wednesday, Judge Sidney H. Stein sentenced Hana, an entrepreneur, to eight years in prison, ordering him to pay a $1.25-million fine and to forfeit $125,000.
“We are confident that we will prevail on appeal. And we have a number of very compelling cutting-edge legal issues. And we are hopeful that he’ll stay out pending appeal,” Lustberg added.
A second businessman, real estate developer Fred Daibes was sentenced to seven years and a $1.75 million fine.
Prior to the announcement of his sentence, Daibes, 67, tearfully told Stein the jury verdict had left him “borderline suicidal,” and requested leniency so that he could care for his 30-year-old autistic son.
Hana told the judge, “I am an innocent man" and "I never bribed Senator Menendez or asked his office for influence."
Menendez is accused of taking gold bars, a luxury car and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash bribes. He has insisted he is innocent and says his interactions with Egyptian officials were normal for the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Prosecutors have asked a judge to give the Democrat 15 years behind bars for crimes that include acting as an agent of the Egyptian government. Menendez’s lawyers say he deserves less than two years in prison, citing his decades of public service and a life largely well-lived after the son of Cuban immigrants rose from poverty to become “the epitome of the American Dream.”
His wife Nadine Menendez faces trial in March on many of the same charges as her husband after spending the last year battling breast cancer.
A third businessman pleaded guilty and testified against Menendez at a trial last year.
AP video shot by: David R. Martin.
Production: Vanessa A. Alvarez.
===========================================================
Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: info@aparchive.com.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7a70e60e3a524b75bfe454f80ba3fbfd
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in February 3, 2025, 9:05 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
