Edgewater developer indicted along with Menendez in corruption scheme. Who is Fred Daibes?

Fred Daibes, an Edgewater developer largely responsible for the "gold coast" boom of high-rises along the Hudson River in Bergen County and a bank founder with prior legal woes, was one of five people indicted Friday in an alleged corruption scheme involving Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife.

Daibes, 66, was already awaiting sentencing on Oct. 26 after he pleaded guilty to banking crimes in April 2022.

Daibes was charged Friday along with two other businessmen, Wael Hana and Jose Uribe, with conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud in relation to Menendez's second indictment in eight years.

Menendez was indicted Friday on corruption charges for allegedly accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Daibes, Hana and Uribe for helping them enrich themselves and trying to get them out of trouble, according to the indictment, unsealed in New York.

More than $480,000 in cash was found stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe at Menendez's home during a search by investigators in June 2022, according to the indictment. They also found over $70,000 in Nadine Menendez’s safe deposit box. The indictment includes photos of cash that was stuffed into clothes, including a windbreaker with Menendez's name stitched on it.

Story continues below photo gallery.

Some of the envelopes contained the fingerprints or DNA of Daibes — an Edgewater developer and longtime political donor to Menendez — or Daibes' driver, the indictment says. Investigators also discovered more than $100,000 worth of gold bars in the home, which were provided by Hana or Daibes, according to the indictment.

Who is Fred Daibes?

Once a dishwasher and bartender at Edgewater’s old Binghamton ferryboat restaurant, he has constructed luxury residences such as the upscale St. Moritz, and founded Mariner’s Bank.

Kelly: Bob Menendez again plays victim as he faces new federal charges. Are we surprised?

The avid car collector has since been tied up in lawsuits and indictments over the last two decades related to contamination, bank loans, future development and affordable housing.

Bank indictment

Daibes was indicted on multiple counts in 2018 for an alleged conspiracy to circumvent lending limits set by Mariner's Bank, which he founded in 2001.

He pleaded guilty to a single count of the original 14-count indictment, which included a 2008 memo for a $1.8 million nominee loan that falsely stated the borrower and the source of repayment. The line of credit was actually for Daibes, who funded the repayment.

More: Menendez and his wife indicted on corruption charges

Menendez indicted: Could Menendez resign amid corruption indictment? How would his Senate seat get filled?

More: Future of massive North Jersey towers uncertain amid toxic cleanup, Menendez investigation

Friday's indictment said Menendez had recommended that President Joe Biden nominate someone as New Jersey's U.S. attorney who Menendez believed could be influenced to disrupt the federal criminal prosecution of Daibes over the bank fraud charges.

Before Daibes pleaded guilty, Menendez allegedly pressed Philip Sellinger, before and after he became the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, to go light on Daibes.

In December 2020, Menendez met with Sellinger to consider whether he would support Sellinger’s nomination to the U.S. attorney post. At the meeting, Menendez criticized the prosecution of Daibes and asked Sellinger to “look into” the case if he was nominated, the indictment reads.

After the meeting, Sellinger told Menendez that he would have to recuse himself from the Daibes prosecution because he had handled a matter involving the developer while in private practice. Menendez told him he would be recommending another candidate for U.S. attorney.

But in the spring of 2021, an unnamed adviser told Menendez that Sellinger would not have to recuse himself. “I think if you call [Sellinger], you’ll be comfortable with what he says,” the adviser texted Menendez. The senator then recommended Sellinger for the post. Sellinger is not named in the indictment and is referred to only as “Official-3.”

Shortly after he was sworn in, the Department of Justice determined that Sellinger would be recused from Daibes’ prosecution.

In early 2022, Menendez had short phone calls with the first assistant U.S. attorney. At the time, Daibes’ unnamed driver had called Nadine Menendez twice on Jan. 24. Later that day, Nadine Menendez texted Daibes: “Thank you. Christmas in January.”

The driver’s fingerprints were later found on an envelope containing thousands in cash at the Menendez home. Several days later, the senator Googled the phrase “kilo of gold price.”

In March, Nadine Menendez met with a jeweler and showed him two 1-kilogram gold bars that were worth more than $120,000, according to the indictment. Serial numbers showed that the gold bars had been owned by Daibes, the indictment reads.

The next month, Daibes pleaded guilty to a probationary sentence.

Daibes and gold bars

Daibes has been known to invest in gold bars.

In 2013, Daibes was beaten at his luxury penthouse during an armed home invasion robbery, in which $3 million in gold bars, diamonds and gems were stolen.

Menendez indictment: What did federal prosecutors say about their indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez?

Daibes and Mariano Castillo, the night doorman at the St. Moritz, the Edgewater high-rise that Daibes built, were tied up and blindfolded with pillowcases, and had guns pressed to their heads. Daibes' shoulder and ribs were broken.

Four defendants were later sentenced to terms ranging from 12 to 18 years in prison. "They convinced me they wanted to kill me," the developer told a judge. "On more than one occasion, they put a gun to my head. They acted like real tough guys."

Cited for multiple violations

In 2019, Daibes and companies associated with his Le Jardin restaurant were ordered to pay the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection $1.7 million in penalties for failing to make improvements to the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway. An attorney for Daibes said at the time that his client could not pay the fine because of his federal indictment. The indictment forced Daibes to close various businesses and limited his income, his attorney said.

Over the next few years, Daibes was cited for multiple other violations at the site, including installing a parking lot, clearing vegetation from nearly 27,000 square feet of coastal bluffs and expanding the restaurant by 1,800 square feet without DEP authorization.

Allegedly reneged on affordable housing

In March 2019, Horizon Fort Lee and Horizon Fort Lee Urban Renewal, the owners of several co-op buildings, sued the Daibes-owned Assad Y. Daibes Memorial Foundation for Special Needs for $2.7 million, alleging that the foundation reneged on an agreement to build 20 affordable-housing units for Horizon at Fort Lee’s first special-needs housing project.

The units were to be placed within Daibes’ 16-story, 140-unit multifamily high-rise at 69 Main St. to fulfill an affordable housing obligation Horizon had at its 18-story development at 2062 Lemoine Ave., according to the complaint.

Horizon paid Daibes $2.7 million for the arrangement but demanded its money back after the foundation failed to complete the project and Fort Lee declared the foundation in default of its obligation to the borough, the complaint alleges.

Botched contamination cleanup

In 2013, cleanup efforts at Veterans Field in Edgewater were halted when officials discovered that the contractor hired for the soil remediation work, Waterside Construction, owned by Daibes, had trucked in additional contaminated materials. In 2014 the borough filed suit in federal court against Daibes, several of his entities, the firm that oversaw the project, and others.

Development lawsuits

Earlier this year, a New Jersey State Commission of Investigation report outlined how many Edgewater officials had connections to Daibes and that some of the ties included business contracts and, in one case, discounted rent for a luxury apartment.

The investigation confirmed many allegations made in a 2017 lawsuit by 615 River Road Partners, LLC, which filed a complaint in federal court against the borough, alleging officials had blocked it from building on its site on River Road because of the influence exerted by Daibes.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Who is Fred Daibes, NJ developer indicted in Menendez corruption case?