After Hana and Menendez Jailed, Is Trump Pressuring Sisi?

A U.S. court has closed the chapter on a scandal implicating Egypt’s intelligence services under former chief Abbas Kamel, sentencing Wael Hana to eight years in prison and seizing his assets on January 29, 2025.

Hana, a key figure in the bribery case involving former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, played a role in securing political favors for Egypt, including lifting restrictions on military aid in exchange for shielding Cairo’s human rights record. Menendez was sentenced to 11 years behind bars.

With the court confirming Egypt’s involvement in bribing U.S. lawmakers with gold, cash, and lavish gifts, the verdict raises pressing questions: Will Cairo-Washington ties suffer? Or will newly elected President Donald Trump use the scandal as leverage against Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s regime?

What will happen to the Halal Meat company, established by Egyptian intelligence and granted exclusively to Wael Hana—a Christian of Egyptian origin and U.S. nationality—to monopolize the supply of certified halal meat to Egypt, now that his assets, which were effectively intelligence funds, have been seized?

Will the company persist under new leadership, despite Hana's inexperience, which contributed to rising meat prices in Egypt? Or will a new firm take over, dismantling the monopoly and allowing previous companies to resume offering “Halal” certification?

A Lever of Pressure

The scandal first surfaced in reports by The New York Times, exposing two major scandals involving the Egyptian regime: The first was the appointment of Wael Hana, an Egyptian Christian with American citizenship, to head a Muslim company responsible for issuing halal meat certification for Egypt. Hana was granted exclusive control over the process of exporting halal meat to Egypt, which led to a monopoly that raised prices exponentially while pushing out four competing companies.

The second scandal involved the Egyptian regime's use of Hana and another Egyptian-American, Fred Daibes, as intelligence agents for Abbas Kamel in the U.S. They served as intermediaries in a bribery scheme involving U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and his wife, during lavish dinners that included alcohol.

While U.S. law does not criminalize an American intermediary working officially for a foreign government, as long as their name is registered as a lobbyist, bribing government officials or members of Congress is illegal. The Egyptian regime, through its intelligence intermediary Hana, provided Menendez with luxury gifts, including gold bars, jewelry, and trips paid for by Egypt.

Menendez is accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars in exchange for using his Senate position to support the Egyptian government. During a search of his home, authorities found 13 one-ounce gold coins, two gold bars weighing one kilogram each, and a $60,000 Mercedes.

Menendez is also accused of approving military aid to Egypt and covering up human rights violations, as well as attempting to interfere with two investigations linked to other businessmen. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan charged him with corruption for using his influence in a wide range of illicit activities involving Egypt.

On January 29, 2025, Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison, while Hana received an 8-year sentence for bribing the senator and his wife, Nadine Arslanian (who has not been tried yet due to illness).

Hana is accused of leveraging his relationship with the senator’s wife (a Lebanese-Armenian American) to facilitate demands from Egyptian military and intelligence officials, enabling them to secure U.S. aid without any cuts due to human rights violations.

Fred Daibes, another business figure involved in the scandal, was sentenced to 7 years in prison, along with a fine and three years of probation, after giving Menendez and his wife gold bars and money from Egypt’s intelligence services.

Kamel’s Role

Despite the repeated mention of Abbas Kamel and Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry as suspects in the case, the court cleared both of any charges, citing their official positions at the time the crime was committed.

Before the ruling, rumors swirled—later confirmed by political sources—that Sisi, the head of the Egyptian regime, ousted Kamel and Shoukry under U.S. pressure, aiming to shield them from prosecution and protect Egypt’s global reputation.

Shoukry was dismissed from his position as foreign minister in July 2024, followed by Kamel in October 2024.

This raised questions about whether the U.S. had instructed Sisi to remove Kamel due to his involvement in the Hana-Menendez case, with his name appearing as a suspect in court sessions, possibly prompting a request for his attendance, leading to his dismissal.

Egyptian former military pilot Sherif Osman, residing in the U.S. and who exposed Kamel’s alleged bribery and money laundering activities in the U.S., confirmed that investigations into the matter have been ongoing for some time.

Osman also revealed that he had assisted the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in uncovering money laundering operations linked to Egypt's intelligence, which contributed to Kamel’s removal.

Egyptian expert based in the U.S., Nayel Shafei, said Kamel and Shoukry's removal was inevitable after their names (and their wives) were mentioned in the U.S. Congressional investigations into Egypt’s bribe of Senator Menendez via Hana, the intelligence intermediary.

Suspicion surrounding Abbas Kamel emerged early on when Manhattan's court on July 16, 2024, charged Senator Menendez with 16 criminal counts, including acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government, along with charges of bribery, extortion, and fraud involving Egyptian intelligence officials.

The trial revealed the involvement of Kamel (who was pictured with his wife alongside the senator and his spouse), as well as former Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

The New York Times reported on July 11, 2024, that the senator and his wife Nadine had dinner with Major General Ahmed Helmy, an Egyptian intelligence officer in Washington, and a woman named Mai Abdelmagid.

On October 14, 2023, the newspaper identified Kamel as Official No. 5 in the indictment against Menendez, a position confirmed by U.S. officials. Official No. 3 in the same indictment was Major General Ahmed Helmy, Egypt's top spy in Washington.

U.S. media outlets also reported that Kamel's wife attended some of these meetings with Menendez, along with a woman believed to be an Egyptian intelligence officer, though this was not confirmed, and photos of the group were published.

The trial revealed communications between senior Egyptian officials and Senator Menendez, facilitated through his wife. Jurors saw photos of the senator dining with Egyptian intelligence officers.

On September 23, 2023, The New York Times confirmed that Menendez met with a high-ranking official from Egyptian intelligence in June 2021, just a day before meeting other senators to discuss human rights in Egypt and ways to mitigate criticisms of the country.

Impact on Relations

U.S. media estimates suggest that these allegations could strain relations between Washington and Sisi’s regime, especially given ongoing U.S. criticism of Egypt’s human rights record. However, the situation will depend on President Donald Trump, who has described Sisi as a close ally.

These estimates also suggest that the convictions of Hana and Menendez could serve as a future “bargaining chip” for Trump, to be used according to U.S. interests in pressing Sisi on matters like normalization with “Israel” or the displacement of Gaza residents.

A former ambassador confirmed to Al-Estiklal that Trump might leverage this scandal against Sisi’s regime. He did not rule out using the issue of Gaza displacement, which Trump has repeatedly insisted on.

Trump sparked controversy when, on January 30, 2025, he reiterated for the third time that Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah II would agree to his plan for the “relocation of Palestinians,” confidently repeating, “Yes, they will. They will. They will!”

When asked by reporters whether he would impose trade sanctions on them if they refused the displacement plan, he responded with certainty: “They will [..] they will do it [..] we do a lot for them, and they will.”

This raises questions about his unwavering confidence in Sisi’s compliance and the mysterious underlying reasons for Trump’s bold assertions.

Halal Meat

Before the espionage case involving U.S. Senator Menendez and Egyptian officials gained attention, a major uproar had already erupted in U.S. media over a small company registered in New Jersey in 2017, which unexpectedly became the sole issuer of halal certificates for all meat, poultry, and dairy exports to Egypt.

Mada Masr revealed early in 2019 the story of the Egyptian Islamic halal certification company IS EG Halal, founded by Christian businessman Wael Hana, who lacked experience in this field. Despite this, the Sisi government granted him a monopoly on halal certification for meat suppliers to Egypt, revoking the licenses of four other companies.

The new monopolizing company raised the fee for issuing halal certificates to $5,000 per shipment, a stark increase from the previous $10–20 per metric ton.

This decision alarmed officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who requested an investigation into the matter. However, Menendez intervened and urged the department not to interfere. It was later revealed that the company was a front for Egyptian intelligence, with bribes being funneled to the American senator.

Prosecutors called for Menendez’s conviction, accusing him of pressuring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allow Hana’s company to monopolize halal certification, which benefited Hana, a businessman connected to the Egyptian regime.

It became clear that the monopoly granted by the Sisi government to Hana’s company was part of a political scheme tied to bribing the U.S. senator.

Hana’s company acted as an intermediary in the Egyptian government's effort to lift the U.S. ban on a $300 million arms deal by securing Menendez’s vote in Congress, after previous objections due to Egypt’s poor human rights record.

On October 28, 2023, The New York Times reported that Hana’s lawyer submitted documents to the court defending him and requesting the return of his passport so that his business could proceed. The documents revealed that the Sisi government had selected him and provided the necessary support and expertise to help him secure halal certification.

“As a Christian, I had no experience in issuing halal certificates, so the Egyptian government provided me with trained imams and veterinarians to assist me,” Hana said in the court.

He also argued in his legal memorandum that Egypt’s objective in facilitating his monopoly on the halal meat trade was to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from financing its activities through the numerous companies issuing halal certificates for meat imports. By dealing with him exclusively, Egypt “ensured” that he was not affiliated with the Brotherhood.