Nadine Menendez, spouse of former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), was sentenced on Sept. 11 to greater than 4 years in federal jail in a bribery case.
District Choose Sidney H. Stein of the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York sentenced her to 54 months behind bars and three years of supervised launch for working along with her husband in accepting bribes of money, gold bars, and a luxurious automotive.
Stein wished to ship a message with the sentencing.
“Individuals have to grasp there are penalties,” he mentioned.
Prosecutors requested for seven years in jail, whereas Nadine Menendez’s lawyer requested a 12 months in jail.
Nadine Menendez, who was convicted in April, sobbed whereas addressing the courtroom at her sentencing and blamed her husband for what she did.
“I’d by no means have imagined somebody of his rating placing me on this place,” she mentioned.
“The blindfold is off. I now know he’s not my savior. He’s not the person I believed he was.”
Bob Menendez, who served in Congress for 31 years, was convicted in July 2024 of accepting greater than $400,000 in bribes from Qatar and Egypt that included gold bars, a automotive, and money. He was sentenced to 11 years behind bars in January and reported to a federal jail in Pennsylvania in June.
“Menendez, who swore an oath to symbolize america and the State of New Jersey, as an alternative put his excessive workplace up on the market in change for this hoard of bribes,” prosecutors wrote in a Jan. 9 courtroom submitting.
“Menendez’s willingness to interact within the charged scheme instantly after receiving a proper admonition for such comparable conduct speaks volumes about his character.”
Bob Menendez’s legal professionals requested for a lesser sentence.
“Unsurprisingly, Sen. Menendez’s conviction has rendered him a nationwide punchline and stripped him of each conceivable private, skilled, and monetary profit,” the legal professionals wrote. “Bob is now 71, together with his long-built repute in tatters. He has suffered monetary {and professional} smash.
“His as soon as broad circle of mates and political allies have largely disappeared. Whereas all defendants endure inevitable private {and professional} penalties if convicted of great federal crimes, Sen. Menendez in lots of vital respects has already been punished comparatively extra harshly as a consequence of his place.”
Three New Jersey businessmen—Wael Hana, Fred Daibes, and Jose Uribe—had been additionally indicted. Hana and Daibes had been convicted, whereas Uribe pleaded responsible. Daibes was sentenced to seven years in jail, whereas Hana was sentenced to eight years. Uribe is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
“The defendants engaged, for years, in a corruption and overseas affect scheme of beautiful brazenness, breadth, and period, leading to exceptionally grave abuses of energy on the highest ranges of the Legislative Department of america Authorities,” prosecutors wrote.
Menendez resigned from the Senate in August 2024.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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