Former Democratic senator Bob Menendez has officially reported to prison to begin his 11-year sentence for corruption.
It's a humbling step for the once-powerful New Jersey Democrat, who was found guilty of taking bribes in a lurid corruption trial.
The longtime senator and his wife Nadine were convicted of accepting gold bars, a luxury car, cash, and mortgage help in the sprawling scheme.
Menendez reported to Federal Correctional Institution, Schuylkill in Minersville, Pennsylvania, which houses 1,200 inmates.
The facility has a medium-security prison and a minimum-security camp. It's expected that Menendez, 71, will serve his time in the minimum-security camp, the AP noted.
The senator was found guilty of selling his influence as chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee to businessmen with ties to the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
In return for the senator's favors, the businessmen gave a Mercedez-Benz vehicle to his wife Nadine after she crashed her previous car in a deadly accident that killed a pedestrian. Nadine also received help with her mortgage, and the couple was showered with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars.
In exchange for the glitzy gifts, Menendez promised to protect his co-conspirators from criminal prosecution, among other favors.
Menendez was tried separately from his wife, who is set to be sentenced on September 11. She was found guilty in April, months after her husband's conviction for bribery, corruption, and acting as a foreign agent. He resigned from Congress a month after his conviction in July.
At his trial, Menendez blamed his foreign-born wife, who is from Lebanon, painting her as the sophisticated mastermind.
"She kept things from him," the senator's attorney, Avi Weitzman, told jurors during opening statements. "She kept him in the dark on what she was asking others to give her. She was outgoing; she was fun loving. But she wasn't going to let Bob know that she had financial problems."
Two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also found guilty and sentenced to eight years and seven years respectively, while a third businessman, Jose Uribe, turned state's witness against Menendez.
The former senator appears to be lobbying for a pardon, claiming he is a victim of the same politicized justice system that targeted President Trump.
“This process is political and it’s corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system,” Menendez told reporters after his January sentencing.
