Prosecutors say former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez should be imprisoned for 15 years for a “grave abuse of his power,” after the New Jersey Democrat became the first person to be convicted of abusing a Senate committee leadership position and the first U.

Prosecutors are seeking at 15-year sentence for disgraced former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, who was convicted in a bribery case after a nine-week-long trial.

Defense attorneys for the Democrat suggested less than 2 1/2 years of incarceration for the 'historically unique' corruption scheme

NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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, U.S. prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors are calling for the 71-year-old Menendez to spend the next 15 years in prison after he was convicted on corruption charges.

Federal prosecutors are asking that convicted former Sen. Bob Menendez spend 15 years behind bars, according to a court document filed on Thursday, after exchanging official favors for bribes in a sweeping corruption case that spanned two continents.

A judge says former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez will be sentenced as scheduled at the end of January, but he's postponed the start of the Democrat's wife's trial until February.

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.