New York (AP) – Nadine Menendezthe wife of the old American senator Bob MenendezWas sentenced on Monday to team up with her husband to accept silver bribes, gold bars and a luxury car of three men from New Jersey looking for help for their trade relations or their legal problems.
The jury returned a guilty verdict on all the charges of the same federal courthouse in Manhattan where a different jury condemned Bob Menendez of several of the same accusations last year. The Democrat is supposed to start serving an 11 -year prison sentence in June.
Nadine Menendez, who was held but did not seem to react because the verdict was rendered by the jury Foresrson, was to be sentenced on June 12, six days after her husband should appear in prison.
Apart from the courthouse, she wore a pink mask while she was standing next to her lawyer, Barry Coburn, said that he was “devastated by the verdict”.
“We fought hard and it hurts,” he said. “It’s a very difficult day for us.”
Prosecutors argued that they were “partners in crime”
The evidence presented to the jurors during a three -week trial followed the timing of the swirling romance between the couple who started in early 2018 and continued after criminal charges were brought against them in September 2023. On several occasions during the trial, the prosecutors declared that they were “crime partners”.
During a raid in 2022 on the agents of Englewood Cliffs of the couple, New Jersey, House, FBI, agents of almost $ 150,000 in golden bars and $ 480,000 in cash filled with boots, shoe boxes and vests. In the garage was a Mercedes-Benz convertible, also a bridge pot.
Nadine and Bob Menendez said they were innocent and had never taken bribes.
Initially, they were to be tried together, as well as the three businessmen, but Nadine Menendez’s test was postponed a year ago after receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer and undergoing surgery.
Bob Menendez resigned from the Senate in August after conviction
Bob Menendez, 71, resigned from the Senate last August following his conviction. Before the accusations were brought, he had been president of the powerful senatorial committee for foreign relations.
The prosecutors accused Nadine Menendez of having started to facilitate bribes to the senator when they started to go out together, before getting married in the fall of 2020.
At the time, she was in danger of losing her house at Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, after missing nearly $ 20,000 in mortgage payments, testimony. A longtime friend, Wael Hana, provided money to save the house – and the prosecutors said that in return, the senator began to help Hana preserve a trade monopoly that he had organized with the Egyptian government to certify that imported meat met the religious requirements.
Nadine Menendez also needed a new car after her former was destroyed when she struck and killed a man crossing a street. (She did not face charges in the accident). The prosecutors said that a businessman, Jose Uibe, had given him a Mercedes-Benz and, in return, Bob Menendez used his influence to put pressure on the Office of the Attorney General of New Jersey to stop investigating some of the uribe associates.
The prosecutor said that more treasury and bribes were paid to the couple by Fred Daubes, an eminent real estate promoter who, the prosecutors, wanted the senator to protect him against a criminal affair with which he was confronted in New Jersey. Prosecutors said Bob Menendez also helped Daibes obtain an investment of $ 95 million from an Qatari investment fund.
Nadine Menendez was described by prosecutors as crucial for the program
Nadine Menendez, 58, was described by prosecutors during her trial as crucial for the program, allowing the senator to communicate with businessmen and representatives of the Egyptian government.
In addition to his conviction for corruption, Bob Menendez was also found guilty of having acted as an agent for the Egyptian government. The prosecutors said that in exchange for certain bribes, he made ghosts a letter so that Egyptian officials give his colleagues senators to calm their concerns about human rights violations and encourage them to withdraw $ 300 million in military aid.
Coburn had supported during his closing arguments to the jury that the evidence was insufficient for a conviction.
“These things we are talking about here are not proven,” he said.
He said that the relations that the senator had with businessmen were exactly what a politician is supposed to do for his voters.
In a refutation argument, the American prosecutor Daniel Richenthal urged the jury to condemn Nadine Menendez, calling the evidence against her “coherent and overwhelming”.
Uibe pleaded guilty and testified against others. Hana and Dabies were sentenced with the senator. Hana was sentenced to eight years in prison while Daibes took seven years behind bars.
The acting American lawyer Matthew Podolsky, said in a press release that the verdict “sends the clear message that the power of civil servants may not be put up for sale and that all those who facilitate corruption will be held responsible for their actions.”
