Robert Menendez, New Jersey’s disgraced former senator who was once one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington, was sentenced on Wednesday to 11 years in prison for his central role in an audacious international bribery scheme.

The courtroom in Lower Manhattan was packed but silent as the judge imposed one of the longest sentences ever issued for a federal official in the United States.

“You were successful, powerful,” the judge, Sidney H. Stein of Federal District Court, said before announcing the penalty. “You stood at the apex of our political system.”

“Somewhere along the way — I don’t know where it was — you lost your way,” he added. “Working for the public good became working for your good.”

Mr. Menendez, a skilled orator known for holding forth on the Senate floor, wept intermittently as he addressed the court before the sentence was announced. He has said that he planned to appeal the conviction, but told Judge Stein that he stood before him a “chastened man” who had suffered the ignominy of a guilty verdict and the resignation of his Senate seat.

“Every day I’m awake is a punishment,” Mr. Menendez, 71, said.

“I ask you to temper your sword of justice with mercy for a lifetime of duty,” he added.

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