(Tribune News Service) — Federal prosecutors hit U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife with new criminal charges on Tuesday, just days after a key codefendant in the couple’s corruption case pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate against them.

The New Jersey Democrat and his spouse, Nadine Arslanian, are facing two new counts of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in a superseding indictment filed against them in federal court in Manhattan.

Prosecutors accused the couple of attempting to pay back thousands of dollars to businessmen accused of bribing them after learning of the FBI’s interest in those payments in 2022.

Additionally, the indictment alleges Menendez and Arslanian had their attorneys meet with prosecutors late that year to falsely claim that the original payments from the businessmen were loans that had now been repaid.

Menendez has previously denied allegations that he accepted bribes in exchange for using his office to advance the businessmen’s personal and professional interests and that, at their request, he took actions that benefited the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

His attorneys did not immediately respond Tuesday to requests for comment on the new indictment or its allegations.

The new filing comes just days after Jose Uribe, a former Union City insurance executive, pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors and admitted he’d attempted to bribe the senator with a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in an attempt to buy his influence on two separate criminal cases pending in New Jersey’s courts.

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