Nadine Menendez, the wife of former United States Senator Bob Menendez, has been convicted of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes in exchange for attempting to use her husband’s influence to benefit Egyptian officials and New Jersey businessmen.
Nadine Menendez, 58, was found guilty on Monday of all 15 counts she faced, including bribery, honest services wire fraud and conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent. She will be sentenced by US District Judge Sidney Stein in Manhattan on June 12.
The conviction comes after Bob Menendez, a Democrat who represented New Jersey for 18 and a half years, was sentenced in January to 11 years in prison.
“Nadine Menendez and Senator Menendez were partners in crime,” acting Manhattan US Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement on Monday after the verdict.
“Together, Nadine Menendez and the Senator placed their own interests and greed ahead of the interests of the citizens the Senator was elected to serve.”
Outside the court, Menendez, who had pleaded not guilty, wore a pink mask as she stood next to her lawyer, Barry Coburn, who said he was “devastated by the verdict”.
“We fought hard and it hurts,” he said. “This is a very rough day for us.”
The once-powerful chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Bob Menendez was convicted at trial last July on charges related to efforts to speed Egypt’s access to US military aid, as well as interfering in local prosecutions of businessmen, in exchange for bribes including gold, cash and a Mercedes-Benz.
Bob Menendez, 71, resigned from the Senate the following month.
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