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Nadine Arslanian Menendez, wife of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, was sentenced Sept. 11 to more than four years — 54 months — in federal prison and for her part in a bribery and corruption scandal, according to reports.
Arslanian Menendez was convicted on charges brought in a sprawling indictment brought by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York that included bribery, extortion and obstruction of justice in a multi-level scheme that traded in envelopes of cash, gold bars and a new Mercedes for official acts that benefited Qatar and Egypt. Arslanian Menendez received her sentence in federal court in lower Manhttan.
Soon after the hearing began, U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein said the penalty he planned to level on Arslanian Menendez was "substantially below" guidelines, according to reports.
Arslanian Menendez's sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release, according to reports.
Menendez, his wife and three New Jersey businessmen — Wael Hana, Fred Daibes and Jose Uribe — were charged with orchestrating a bribery scheme. Menendez and his wife allegedly received gifts in exchange for the use of his political influence.
The federal indictment against the group was first unsealed in September 2023 and was updated with superseding indictments three times — in October of that year and again in January and March 2024.
Attorneys for Arslanian Menendez have said her prison sentence for her bribery and corruption convictions should be no longer than one year plus a day instead of the suggested eight years.
Arslanian Menendez didn't stand trial with the trio, but her trial was delayed because she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Initially referred to by the court only as a "serious medical condition," the diagnosis was revealed by her husband during his trial.
What has Bob Menendez said?
During the senator's trial, his attorney blamed his wife for helpling to lead the scheme, calling her "dazzling," and said they had separate lives even while living together.
Arslanian Menendez hid financial challenges from her husband before they met and during their time together, Menendez's lawyer, Avi Weitzman, said in his opening remarks during the former senator's 2024 federal trial. Weitzman also pointed out that the now-infamous gold bars were found in Arslanian’s locked closet, not Menendez's.
Menendez tried to distance himself from that legal strategy in a letter written to a federal judge after he reported to federal prison to begin serving his 11-year sentence earlier this summer.
"I regret that I didn't fully preview what my Defense Attorney said about Nadine during my trial and in his summation," Menendez wrote. "To suggest that Nadine was money hungry or in financial need, and therefore would solicit others for help, is simply wrong."
Menendez detailed "traumatic events" that have affected his wife from a young age, including escaping from Lebanon during its civil war, her father being kidnapped for ransom, and her nightmares from watching children who were dying.
The ex-senator continued in his letter that his wife suffered from an abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend that resulted in a "severe beating" that left her hospitalized and caused her to lose her sense of smell and taste and a brain injury. Menendez said he witnessed the stalking when he began to date her.
Menendez also noted that his wife has been cancer free for a year, but still requires reconstruction procedures.
"Taken as a whole, my wife has already suffered more than most people in a lifetime. She has lost everything she cared about," Menendez said, noting that since he's incarcerated, he can no longer be her caregiver.
Is Nadine Arslanian Menendez still battling cancer?
Arslanian Menendez’s attorney, Sarah Krissoff, wrote a letter to Stein to update him on her client's medical situation on Sept. 8.
Arslanian Menendez had a virtual appointment with her plastic and reconstructive surgeon on Aug. 15 to outline the next steps in her care that includes “extensive surgeries," Krissoff wrote in her letter to Stein, adding that Arslanian Menendez's next scheduled in-person medical appointment is Nov. 6.
A supplemental letter from Arslanian Menendez's plastic and reconstructive surgeon said that she had suffered complications from her initial breast cancer surgery that required additional surgery.
“However, despite multiple surgeries, patient has unrelenting pain severely disrupting her life,” wrote the doctor, whose name was redacted in court papers. “This pain is so severe that it prevents her from sleeping.”
The letter said Arslanian Menendez continued to suffer from other “significant disabling symptoms” related to her cancer surgery.
The doctor said he recommended that Menendez undergo multiple “medically necessary procedures” including multiple sequential surgeries to fix “multiple complex issues.”
The one surgery is estimated to be 12 hours and “requires” hospitalization and several months of recovery including physical therapy.
“The patient will require at least one revision procedure to create an acceptable outcome,” the doctor wrote. “Each of these surgeries come with multiple potential complications including bleeding, tissue death, open wounds and blood clots as well as potential risk of death.”
Why did Nadine Arslanian Menendez need a new car?
Arslanian Menendez struck and killed a man while driving her Mercedes-Benz on Main Street in Bogota in December 2018.
Details about the crash, which unfolded on the evening of Dec. 12, 2018, are outlined in a Bogota Police Department report obtained and first reported by NorthJersey.com.
The man who died, Richard Koop, received a settlement "for the maximum amount." Koop’s ex-wife said her family received $60,000 after attorney's fees were taken out.
Arslanian Menendez — who began dating Menendez in February 2018 and married the senator in October 2020 — was not charged in the incident.
A month after the crash, according to an indictment brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Arslanian Menendez was texting Wael Hana, the Egyptian American businessman also indicted in the bribery scheme, about her lack of a car. Hana later provided her with a 2019 Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible.
Menendez said in his character letter that his wife's past financial troubles referred to during her trial about her mortgage and payments for her car — that the state argued were bribe payments — were a result of "being concerned about a potential lawsuit as a result of an automobile accident, not out of financial duress."
"The decisions she made to insulate herself from that liability were mistakes," Menendez said.
When will Uribe be sentenced?
The last player and star witness in both trials will be sentenced on Oct. 9 after several delays.
Uribe initially entered a not guilty plea to seven charges but later changed it to guilty and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. He spent several days last summer testifying against Menendez and admitted to bribing him.
According to a plea agreement, Uribe could face up to 95 years in prison, though he could win leniency because of his cooperation with federal prosecutors and his testimony against the other defendants.
The failed insurance broker told jurors that he bribed Menendez and his wife in exchange for the senator killing the prosecution of a friend and to stop a criminal investigation that threatened his own company.
Uribe admitted to making concealed payments on a new Mercedes for Arslanian Menendez after she totaled her own Mercedes in the 2018 Bogota crash.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Wife of former Sen. Bob Menendez sentenced to more than 4 years in bribery scheme
Reporting by Kristie Cattafi and Katie Sobko, USA TODAY NETWORK / NorthJersey.com
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