A prosecutor repeatedly referred to Nadine Menendez because the “partner in crime” of her husband — former Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez — whereas asking a jury in a trial’s closing argument Thursday to convict her of bribery fees.
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Paul Monteleoni advised the Manhattan federal courtroom jury that Nadine Menendez helped her husband use his energy within the Senate to learn three New Jersey businessmen.
The prosecutor cited as proof of bribes the a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} in money and gold bars discovered within the couple’s dwelling in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, throughout a 2022 FBI raid.
“The defendant helped Robert Menendez put his power up for grabs,” Monteleoni mentioned. “You saw again and again a clear pattern of corruption.”
He mentioned the couple “put the senator’s power up for sale” and used Nadine Menendez, 58, because the “go-between” who communicated with the businessmen and the senator to make sure everybody understood what they might obtain in return for profitable bribes.
Bob Menendez, 71, is to report back to jail in June to start an 11-year sentence. He was convicted final 12 months of bribery fees at a trial that was supposed to incorporate his spouse. However Nadine Menendez’s attorneys secured a postponement after she was identified with breast most cancers and required surgical procedure.
Born in Lebanon of Armenian descent, Nadine Menendez started relationship the senator in early 2018 when she was often known as Nadine Arslanian. Prosecutors mentioned she quickly joined a bribery scheme involving not less than one businessman she had recognized for years individually from her soon-to-be husband. They have been married within the fall of 2020.
Protection lawyer Barry Coburn urged the jury to search out Nadine Menendez not responsible, saying prosecutors didn’t show their case.
“These things we’re talking about here are unproven,” he mentioned.
Opening statements started Monday for the spouse of former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez in a federal bribery trial. The prosecution alleges Nadine Menendez did her husband’s soiled work, whereas her protection has known as the proof inaccurate. NBC New York’s Jonathan Dienst studies.
He mentioned the dealings the senator had with the businessmen have been simply what a politician is meant to do for his constituents.
As an illustration, he mentioned, a monopoly that businessman Wael Hana had organized with the Egyptian authorities to make sure all meat exported there from the U.S. conformed with non secular necessities was sure to convey jobs to New Jersey and was the sort of factor politicians are purported to encourage.
Hana additionally was convicted final 12 months and sentenced to eight years in jail. One other businessman, Fred Daibes, was sentenced to seven years in jail. A 3rd businessman who pleaded responsible to fees and testified in opposition to the others has not but been sentenced.
Menendez, whose Senate profession started in 2006, resigned from the Senate after his conviction. He had already been pressured out of his chairmanship of the influential Senate International Relations Committee.
Coburn mentioned the federal government was improper to imagine “there’s bad intent.”
And he mentioned it was not proof of corruption when the federal government elicited from some witnesses that they by no means noticed Nadine Menendez in Hana’s firm workplaces after she was employed as a marketing consultant in what prosecutors alleged was a no-show job meant as a bribe.
“Where is the legal requirement that a consultant be in the office?” he requested.
The previous New Jersey senator will report back to jail in June. After asking for leniency, the choose in the end handed down a sentence of 11 years in his bribery conviction. Two co-conspirators have been sentenced to eight and seven years, respectively. NBC New York’s Jonathan Dienst studies.
