Nadine Menendez, spouse of disgraced former Senator Bob Menendez, was discovered responsible on all 15 federal counts in a sweeping bribery and corruption case.
The fees towards Nadine Menendez included bribery, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and performing as a overseas agent.
“Moments in the past, a unanimous jury convicted Nadine Menendez for her crucial position in a corruption and overseas affect scheme involving her husband, convicted former Senator Robert Menendez. Nadine Menendez and Senator Menendez had been companions in crime,” said Performing United States Lawyer Matthew Podolsky.
Prosecutors detailed how she and her husband accepted lavish bribes—money, gold bars, and a luxurious Mercedes-Benz convertible—from three New Jersey businessmen in alternate for political favors.
These favors notably benefited overseas governments, together with Egypt and Qatar, elevating severe nationwide safety considerations.
“Over the span of 5 years, Nadine Menendez agreed to just accept and accepted all kinds of bribes – together with gold bars, money, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, and a no-show job – all in alternate for the Senator’s corrupt official acts,” stated Podolsky.
“Collectively, Nadine Menendez and the Senator positioned their very own pursuits and greed forward of the pursuits of the residents the Senator was elected to serve. Immediately’s verdict sends the clear message that the facility of presidency officers is probably not put up on the market, and that every one those that facilitate corruption shall be held accountable for his or her actions.”
New York Post reported:
Prosecutors stated she acted because the “go-between” connecting Bob with businessmen who funneled bribes to them from the Egyptian and Qatari governments.
In alternate, the pilloried pol leveraged his highly effective publish as head of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee to foyer colleagues to unfreeze $300 million in Egyptian army help that had been held up because of human rights considerations and dole out different beneficial favors, jurors heard.
“What else can the love of my life do for you?” Nadine informed one Egyptian official whereas sitting alongside her cigar-puffing hubby throughout a Could 2019 dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse, proof revealed.
Former Backyard State insurance coverage dealer Jose Uribe testified that he bribed Nadine with a new Mercedes-Benz C-300 in alternate for her husband’s assist shutting down a felony probe.
“Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we’re the proud homeowners of a 2019 Mercedes,” Nadine texted her husband after receiving the primary cost towards the brand new automotive, utilizing the French phrase for “love of my life.”
FBI brokers who raided the couple’s Englewood Hills house discovered the posh automotive parked of their storage, and greater than $150,000 in gold bars saved inside Nadine’s secure. Jurors saw more than $400,000 in cash stuffed into envelopes and strewn throughout the house, together with inside the previous senator’s official authorities windbreaker.
The conviction follows that of Bob Menendez, who was found guilty last year on 16 counts, together with performing as a overseas agent—the primary sitting U.S. senator to be convicted of such a cost. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail and is scheduled to start his sentence in June.
Menendez sobbed as he begged SDNY Choose Sidney Stein to have mercy on him.
In September, Sen. Bob Menendez, the senior U.S. Senator from New Jersey and the previous Chairman of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee, and his spouse, Nadine Menendez, had been indicted on bribery and corruption charges.
In October, Bob Menendez was charged with acting as a foreign agent in a superseding indictment.
Bob Menendez and his spouse are beneath investigation for his or her involvement in a bribery scheme from 2018 to 2022. The couple, who started courting in February 2018 and married in October 2020, are alleged to have accepted a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} in bribes.
The bribes got here from Wael Hana, an Egyptian native with connections to Egyptian officers, Fred Daibes, a New Jersey actual property developer and long-time donor to Senator Menendez, and Jose Uribe, concerned within the New Jersey insurance coverage and trucking enterprise.
The vary of bribes included gold, money, a luxurious convertible, and important funds in direction of Nadine Menendez’s house mortgage.
In June 2022, a big growth occurred when the FBI executed a raid on the Menendez residence in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey,. This operation uncovered many parts of the bribery scheme.
According to the DOJ, over $480,000 in money, a lot of it hid in envelopes and hidden in varied components of the home, together with clothes and closets, was found. A secure in the home contained extra money and valuables. Over $70,000 in money was present in Nadine Menendez’s secure deposit field throughout a separate search.
Among the envelopes recovered bore the fingerprints and/or DNA of Fred Daibes or his driver, additional linking them to the scheme. Different envelopes with Senator Menendez’s identify had been present in jackets hanging in his closet.
One of the crucial important discoveries was over 100 thousand {dollars}’ price of gold bars positioned throughout the house. In line with reports, 13 gold bars had been discovered.
In line with a report by NBC News, the serial numbers on the gold bars correspond with these reported stolen from Fred Daibes throughout an armed theft in Edgewater, New Jersey, practically a decade in the past.
As an illustration, one explicit gold bar, produced by Swiss Financial institution Company and carrying the serial quantity 590005, was recognized among the many gadgets seized from Menendez’s house throughout this 12 months’s FBI raid.
This identical gold bar had been listed as stolen and later returned to Daibes in 2013. The proof logs from the sooner incident, bearing Daibes’ signature and initials, meticulously cataloged every gold bar, together with their particular person serial numbers, thereby linking them to the present investigation.
