Former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife was sentenced Thursday to 4½ years in prison for selling the powerful New Jersey politician’s influence in exchange for bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car.
U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein sentenced Nadine Menendez, 58, after she was convicted in April of colluding from 2018 to 2023 with her husband, the former Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a variety of corrupt schemes, some involving assisting the Egyptian government.
In addition to her time behind bars, Stein sentenced her to three years of supervised release. He said he granted leniency in part because of the trial she endured, her difficult childhood in Lebanon, her abusive romantic partners, her health conditions and her age.
Stein said a prison term was important for general deterrence purposes. “People have to understand there are consequences,” he said.
Prosecutors had asked that she serve at least seven years in prison, while the Probation Department recommended an eight-year prison term. Menendez’s lawyer, Sarah Krissoff, asked that she serve only a year behind bars, citing her difficult recovery from breast cancer, which was diagnosed just prior to a trial last year in which she was to be tried along with her husband. She ended up being tried separately.
Bob Menendez, 71, is serving an 11-year sentence after his conviction last year on charges of taking bribes, extortion, and acting as an agent of the Egyptian government.
Prior to the announcement of her sentence, a sobbing Nadine Menendez addressed the court, blaming her husband in part, saying she was duped by his power and stature and that she felt compelled to do whatever he wanted, such as calling or meeting with certain people.
“I would never have imagined someone of his ranking putting me in this position,” she said, though she acknowledged that in retrospect, she was a grown woman and should have known better.
Wiping away tears, Nadine Menendez described her husband as a manipulative liar.
“I put my life in his hands and he strung me like a puppet,” she told the judge. “The blindfold is off. I now know he’s not my savior. He’s not the man I thought he was.”
Prior to the hearing, Bob Menendez submitted a letter to the judge saying he regretted that he didn’t fully preview what his lawyer said about his wife during his trial and in closing arguments.
“To suggest that Nadine was money hungry or in financial need, and therefore would solicit others for help, is simply wrong,” he wrote.
Prosecutors say Nadine Menendez played a large and crucial role in her husband’s crimes, serving as an intermediary between the senator and three New Jersey businessmen who literally lined his coat pockets with tens of thousands of dollars in cash in return for favors he could deliver with his political clout.
During a 2022 FBI raid on the couple’s New Jersey home, investigators found $480,000 in cash, gold bars worth an estimated $150,000 and a luxury convertible in the garage.
Prosecutors said that, among his other corrupt acts, the senator met with Egyptian intelligence officials and speeded that country’s access to U.S. military aid as part of a complex effort to help his bribe-paying associates, one of whom had business dealings with the Egyptian government.
