Nadine Menendez, the wife of convicted former Sen. Bob Menendez, was found guilty on Monday of helping her husband trade political favors for $1 million in cash, gold, and a Mercedes-Benz. Menendez, 58, could be sentenced to decades in prison after a federal jury in Manhattan convicted her of bribery, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit the crimes, and related counts, the Washington Post reports. "Nadine Menendez and Senator Menendez were partners in crime," acting US Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement after the conviction, per ABC News.
Prosecutors said she introduced Egyptian intelligence and military officials to her husband shortly after they began dating in 2018, leading to an arrangement in which the Menendezes accepted bribes in exchange for the senator's actions benefiting Egypt. Nadine Menendez arranged meetings, cut deals and collected payments, prosecutors said, while trying to cover up the scheme. Bob Menendez—the first public official ever convicted of acting as a foreign agent while in office, per the Hill—was sentenced in January to 11 years in prison. He didn't resign from the Senate until he was found guilty. Three businessmen also have been convicted in the conspiracy.
One of the businessmen, Jose Uribe, paid for the couple's $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible in exchange for help derailing a New Jersey criminal investigation involving him, prosecutors said, and another gifted gold bars worth about $60,000 each. A defense lawyer told jurors that it wasn't proven in the trial that Nadine Menendez was trying to get her husband to violate his responsibility as a New Jersey senator. Her husband's lawyers, in his trial, at times tried to blame Nadine Menendez for the scheme. Her sentencing is scheduled for June 12. (More Nadine Menendez stories.)
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