New Report Probes Sen. Menendez’s Connection to Influential Indian American Democrat With Close Ties to Former Attorney General

Another Indian American connection, related to former New Jersey attorney Gurbir Grewal, seems to have surfaced in the ongoing probe into the corruption and bribery charges against Sen. Bob Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, and three New Jersey businessmen. 

The New Jersey Globe reported that Dr. Balpreet Grewal-Virk, the former attorney general Gurbir Grewal’s cousin, has contributed “huge” amounts to the embattled senator’s campaigns. 

The “influential North Jersey Democrat,” described by the Globe “a close friend” of Menendez, also accompanied the senior lawmaker to a trip to India in 2019, when he proposed to his now wife in front of the Taj Mahal. 

Grewal-Virk is vice chair of the Bergen County Democratic Organization, and the New Jersey Commissioner and co-chair of the Gateway cross-Hudson tunnel and bridge project.

Gurbir Grewal was the state’s attorney general at the time. An appointee of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, he was sworn in on Jan. 16, 2018, becoming the nation’s first Sikh American attorney general. An earlier story broken by the Globe, and reported in American Kahani, detailed his link in the Menendez case. 

Menendez’s interaction with Grewal was first revealed in the indictment against the senator, unsealed last month. The lawmaker, it said, had pressurized Grewal, referred to by the federal prosecutors as “Official-2, to influence him in the prosecution of a businessman, allegedly in exchange for the purchase of a car for his wife. 

The Department of Justice claimed that Menendez contacted Grewal in January 2019 in “an attempt to influence the prosecution of Jose Uribe, a businessman, allegedly in exchange for the purchase of a $60,000 Mercedes convertible for the senator’s wife.” The Indian American considered Menendez’s actions “inappropriate and did not agree to intervene,” the DOJ added. However, he did not share his interaction with Menendez with the prosecution team, the DOJ noted, “to avoid any potential inappropriate influence in the case.”

Menendez’s interaction with Grewal was first revealed in the indictment against the senator, unsealed last month.

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The Globe report drew a connection between Grewal-Virk’s close ties with Menedendez, and his attempt to pressurize her cousin. It cited “multiple sources” who confirmed that “Grewal had aggressively sought to position himself for a high-level federal government post if Democrats took the White House in 2020, pushing for the position of Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.” Grewal left the attorney general’s office in 2021 to become the director of the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

At the time, Menendez was the chairman of the Securities, Insurance, and Investment Subcommittee of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which had jurisdiction over the SEC, the Globe notes.  The report further speculated that “Grewal’s political ambitions and the close friendship his cousin had with Menendez might explain why the Democratic U.S. Senator felt comfortable.

The report also detailed political contributions by the Grewal family, noting that while they “made some campaign contributions in the past, they did not become politically active until after Gurbir Grewal became the Bergen County Prosecutor in 2016.” The report also noted that Grewal-Virk and her husband, Yogi, “contributed $19,900 to Menendez’s campaign and political action committee,” as well as “more than $33,000 to other Democrats.” Other Grewal family members have given “Menendez’s campaign and PAC an additional $18,000.”

Meanwhile, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin issued a statement last month announcing a probe into the allegations of Menendez attempting to pressure Grewal. “My Office has cooperated fully with the Southern District of New York’s investigation and will continue to do so. We are also engaged in our own independent internal inquiry into the allegations set forth in the indictment.”