Costco sells out of 1-ounce gold bars as Bob Menendez faces fed probe over gold stash
Costco said it has been selling out of its one-ounce gold bars online — even as New Jersey Sen. Bob Mendendez faces a federal probe for allegedly accepting more than $150,000 in gold bars among other gifts in exchange for handing out political favors and helping the Egyptian government.
“I’ve gotten a couple of calls that people have seen online that we’ve been selling one-ounce gold bars,” Costco’s Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said on a call with investors following Costco’s fiscal fourth-quarter results on Tuesday.
“But when we load them on the site, they’re typically gone within a few hours and we limit two per member,” Galanti added before moving onto another topic.
On Costco’s website, there are two options for one-ounce bars of 24-karat gold currently for sale under the digital marketplace’s “Sports Memorabilia & Collectibles” section.
One variety of the precious metal is for sale from South Africa’s Rand Refinery at $1,949.99, while another option from Swiss supplier PAMP Suisse for $1,979.99 — both slightly above the price of gold futures, which were trading on Wednesday at $1,890.70, down 1.52%.
However, Costco denotes that its price for the gold — which come in assay packing with a serial number and proof of authenticity — includes insured UPS two-to-three-day shipping.
The one-ounce bars are also eligible for the 2% cash back that comes with a Costco Executive Member card, according to the products’ 4.9-star reviews.
Representatives for Costco did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Costco’s gold bars have gained immense popularity just as Sen. Menendez (R-NJ) has come to be evocative of bullion after at least 13 gold bars were found in his Englewood Cliffs home back.
The bars — valued at an estimated $155,000 — were found back in June 2022, after the feds raided Menendez and his wife Nadine’s upscale suburban home after the Democratic senator was indicted on federal corruption charges related to an alleged years-long scheme.
Feds also found a 2019 Mercedes C-Class, $566,000 in cash “stuffed in envelopes” and “hidden in clothing, closets and a safe” and an additional $70,000 in Nadine’s safety deposit box — all which the couple reportedly received in exchange for helping three New Jersey businessmen and the country of Egypt, according to officials.
It was recently revealed that Menendez had even more gold than what the feds found, though his wife reportedly sold them for $400,000 — equivalent to as much as 13 pounds of pure gold — just months before the senator’s federal investigation became public.
The sale was a remarkable financial turnaround for Arslanian, who had reportedly been struggling financially, even facing foreclosure on her home, before she married Menendez in 2020.
At a press conference in his hometown of Union City earlier this week, Menendez denounced efforts to prosecute him on federal bribery charges, saying he kept the piles of cash that federal agents found at his home and that allegedly link him to the crimes because he is the son of Cuban immigrants.
“For 30 years, I have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account, which I have kept for emergencies, and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba,” the 69-year-old said, failing to explain how hundreds of thousands worth of gold bars came to be in his home.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest updates in the Menendez indictment.
The twice-indicted senator was born in New York City on New Year’s Day 1954, months after his parents left the Caribbean island dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who himself was overthrown on Menendez’s fifth birthday by Fidel Castro.
If convicted on all counts, Menendez faces up to 45 years in prison.
Though he’s maintained his innocence, Menendez agreed to step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced in a statement on Friday.
The Garden State Democrat was indicted in 2015 for allegedly taking improper gifts from a Florida eye surgeon, but that prosecution ended in a hung jury two years later.
