Nadine Menendez was accused of selling access to her husband, the former Democratic senator from New Jersey, for people seeking favours and influence. Photo / Getty Images
Nadine Menendez was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison on Thursday for participating with her husband, former US Senator Bob Menendez, in a corruption scheme to obtain expensive gifts and bribes, including gold bars, a luxury car and cash totalling about US$1 million.
Nadine Menendez, 58, was convicted in April for her part in the plan, which also resulted in her husband’s conviction last year for bribery and other charges and sentenced in January to 11 years in prison. Prosecutors recommended that she serve at least seven years for her conviction on bribery, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit those crimes and related counts.
US District Judge Sidney Stein issued a sentence of 54 months and said Nadine Menendez was a knowing actor in the long-running corruption scheme centred on her powerful husband, the former Democratic senator from New Jersey.
“You were a central participant in a wide-ranging extensive conspiracy involving the corruption of one of the highest-ranking United States senators, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” Stein said. “You set up meetings. You initiated actions. You involved others. You knew what you were doing throughout.”
Nadine Menendez appeared teary-eyed when she read a statement to the judge before her sentence was issued. She described her husband as her saviour from an abusive relationship and said she did whatever he asked of her and “did it blindly”.
“He was my god. I felt safe following him through life,” she said. “He was one of the most powerful men in the most powerful country on earth, and there was no way he would lead me astray or ask me to do anything illegal - or so I thought.”
Nadine Menendez said her “blindfold was off now” and her spouse is “not the man I thought he was”, adding that she “should have known better”. She later told reporters outside the courthouse that she did not plan to seek a divorce.
Sarah Krissoff, a lawyer for Nadine Menendez, asked the court to consider trauma she endured in a Lebanese conflict zone and through a history of abusive relationships. After the sentencing, Krissoff thanked the judge for considering her client’s health and other factors and said she was hopeful for a successful appeal.
Bob Menendez, in a letter he submitted to the judge, attempted to walk back his lawyers’ comments at his trial that suggested his wife orchestrated the crimes. He is serving his sentence in a low-security prison in Pennsylvania.
“Your Honour, you gave me a tough sentence that surely serves the deterrent value you said was needed,” Bob Menendez wrote. “To imprison Nadine, would not recognise the trauma she has suffered, how it has affected her and her judgement, and I would respectfully say would not have any greater deterrent effect.”
Manhattan prosecutors on Thursday highlighted the gravity of Nadine Menendez’s illegal conduct.
“She played a critical role at the heart of a corrupt scheme to sell [Bob] Menendez’s office. … She did so without hesitation and was motivated in part at least by greed,” Assistant US Attorney Lara Pomerantz said in court.
Pomerantz sought to discredit a claim by Menendez that her bad decisions were due in part to a brain injury from an assault by her ex-boyfriend. “People with brain injuries don’t just happen to engage in years-long white-collar crimes – they choose to do so,” Pomerantz said, adding that the hardships Menendez faced “do not excuse or explain her conduct”.
Prosecutors said during the trial that Nadine Menendez sold access to her husband for people seeking favours and influence. The couple tried to conceal their efforts because they knew their actions were criminal, prosecutors said. The Government said its proposed punishment was less than it would have been if not for the defendant’s cancer diagnosis and other mitigating factors.
Jurors heard evidence that Nadine Menendez was paid by businessman Wael Hana for a no-show job. Hana’s payoffs to the couple helped him obtain an exclusive Halal beef-exporting agreement with the Egyptian Government.
The pair also took bribes from Fred Daibes, a developer, who got assistance with a real estate project, and Jose Uribe, who pleaded guilty to gifting them a Mercedes-Benz, according to trial evidence. Uribe testified against Bob and Nadine Menendez at their trials.
Hana and Daibes, who were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services, wire fraud and other crimes, were sentenced to eight years and seven years in prison, respectively.
For some of the time that the crimes were committed, Bob Menendez was the chair of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He lost that position when he was indicted but resisted calls to resign from his seat until he was convicted.
Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement Thursday that the Menendezes “engaged in the most brazen form of public corruption – gold bars, cash, and a luxury car in exchange for a Senator’s power”.
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