Federal prosecutors need the spouse of former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez to serve not less than seven years in federal jail for her function within the wide-ranging “gold bar” bribery scheme.
Of their courtroom submitting, prosecutors argued Nadine Menendez deserved important jail time as a result of she knowingly joined her husband in serving to to orchestrate the unlawful payoffs.
“The Government considers the defendant, who played a critical role at the heart of the scheme, to be the second most culpable member of the scheme second only to [Bob] Menendez”, federal prosecutors wrote of their 58-page sentencing memorandum.
Federal prosecutors stated Nadine Menendez’s sentence ought to be about so long as sentences for the 2 businessmen who had been convicted at trial for paying the bribes. Corrupt developer Fred Daibes was sentenced to seven years. Businessman Wael Hana was sentenced to eight years.
Prosecutors stated Nadine Menendez was a associate in her husband’s crimes, serving to to gather payoffs from three New Jersey businessmen in a wide-ranging scheme. The protection argued among the gold she acquired was not bribes, however quite had been handed down from her household or had been presents from businessmen who had been longtime associates. NBC New York’s Jonathan Dienst stories.
Prosecutors stated Nadine Menendez helped to promote the ability of then-Senator Menendez (D) in alternate for hundreds of {dollars} price of bribes, together with money, gold, bars, paychecks for a no-show job, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible.
“The defendant engaged, for years, in a corruption and foreign influence scheme of stunning brazenness, breadth, and duration, resulting in exceptionally grave abuses of power at the highest levels of the Legislative Branch of the United States Government,” prosecutors stated.
Legal professionals for Nadine Menendez final week requested a sentence of a yr and a day. Her husband of 5 years, Bob Menendez, wrote a letter to Choose Sidney Stein on her behalf. He wrote he regrets that his spouse was painted as “money-hungry” throughout his separate bribery trial.
“I regret that I didn’t fully preview what my Defense Attorney said about Nadine during my trial and in his summation. To suggest that Nadine was money hungry or in financial need, and therefore would solicit others for help, is simply wrong,” he wrote.
Bob Menendez is presently serving an 11-year sentence at FCI Allentown in Pennsylvania.
Nadine Menendez is scheduled to be sentenced on September 11.
