Who is Senator Bob Menendez’s wife, Nadine, and what is she accused of?
Sen. Bob Menendez’s defense team claimedthat his wife, a co-defendant in his corruption trial, kept him in the dark about the unlawful dealings.
New Jersey Democratic US Senator Bob Menendez has been found guilty of felony charges for bribery and corruption. Prosecutors accuse him of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars, gold bars and other gifts including a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for illegally aiding the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
His defense team were claiming though that his wife, Nadine Menendez, who is a co-defendant and the government says was the go-between for the senator, kept him in the dark about her unlawful dealings, but today, July 16, 2024, her trial has been delayed indefinitely on the same day her husband was found guilty on all counts.
Both of them had pled not guilty to the charges against them as well as two New Jersey businessmen involved in the alleged criminal acts. However, Jose Uribe, another accused businessmen has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with investigators.
Who is Nadine Menendez, Senator Bob Menendez’s wife, and what is she accused of?
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Nadine and her family fled to the United States during that country’s civil war when she was a child. She married Raffi Arslanian, a real estate developer, in 1989 with whom she had two children. The couple divorced in 2005 and she was left with little money.
It is unclear when exactly she met her current husband the senator with dates ranging from 2010 to 2018 but it is known that they met at an IHOP in Union City, New Jersey. Senator Menendez and Nadine were married in 2020, a year after he proposed to her in front of the Taj Mahal while they were on a trip to India.
Prosecutors claimed that shortly after the relationship began she introduced the senator to an Egyptian-American businessman based in New Jersey and longtime friend Wael “Will” Hana. Nadine and Hana began arranging dinners at expensive restaurants and meetings in Menendez’s Senate office with officials from the Egyptian government.
The charges against the couple included doing favors for the Egyptian government like passing along sensitive, nonpublic information and help lobbying the senator’s colleagues. As well they are accused of helping a New Jersey developer secure a deal with an investment company owned by the Qatari royal family and meddling in state and federal criminal cases.