Prosecutors say former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez should be imprisoned for 15 years after the Democrat became the first to be convicted of abusing a Senate committee leadership position and the first public official to be convicted of serving as a foreign agent.

The former senator was convicted in July in an extensive bribery and corruption scheme, becoming the first U.S. official found guilty of acting as an agent of a foreign country.

Robert Menendez, the disgraced former U.S. senator from New Jersey, should spend at least 15 years in prison following his corruption conviction, after he betrayed voters by putting his office "up for sale" in exchange for bribes,

Lawyers for New Jersey’s former Democratic senator, Robert Menendez, have said that even fewer years would be tantamount to a death sentence.

Former US Senator Bob Menendez, the once-powerful New Jersey Democrat convicted of corruption charges, should spend 15 years in prison, US prosecutors said.