Bob Menendez’s wife Nadine Arslanian received a new Mercedes convertible from bribery scheme co-defendant after fatally striking a pedestrian in 2018, police records reveal

Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife fatally struck a pedestrian in her car in 2018 before receiving a new Mercedes from a co-defendant in the senator’s federal bribery case, it has been revealed.

Nadine Arslanian Menendez, who is charged along with the New Jersey Democrat in the alleged bribery scheme, drove the car that killed 49-year-old Richard Koop in Bogota, New Jersey, on December 12, 2018, according to police reports first reported by police . Bergen record.

Arslanian, who was dating Menendez at the time and later married him in October 2020, was not charged in the incident and was found not guilty after police determined Koop was jaywalking when he was struck.

According to federal charging documents, about a month after the crash, Arslanian sent a text message to Wael Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman who was also indicted on bribery charges, complaining about not having a car.

Prosecutors say Hana and another defendant in the case, Jose Uribe, eventually gave Arslanian $15,000 in cash as a down payment for a new Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible worth $60,000, as well as making the monthly financing payments.

Nadine Arslanian Menendez (right) is charged with her husband, Senator Bob Menedez (left), in the alleged bribery scheme

The car was registered in March 2019. After picking up the car, Arslanian thanked Uribe in a text message that read, “I will never forget this,” according to the federal indictment.

Prosecutors allege that in exchange for the Mercedes, Menendez attempted to interfere with a criminal investigation in New Jersey at the behest of Hana and Uribe.

Menendez and his wife have pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, which stem from bribery and extortion allegations involving the Egyptian government.

So far, Menendez has defied calls from his own Democratic Party colleagues to leave office, although he “temporarily” resigned as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the indictment was made public last month.

Prosecutors say the senator provided sensitive information to the Egyptian government to help an Egyptian-American businessman protect his monopoly.

According to the indictment, between 2018 and 2022, Menendez accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hana, Uribe and Fred Daibes in exchange for using “his power and influence to protect and enrich those businessmen and for the benefit of the government of Egypt.”

The crash killed 49-year-old Richard Koop (above) in Bogota, New Jersey on December 12, 2018

According to federal charging documents, about a month after the crash, Arslanian sent a text message to Wael Hana (above), an Egyptian-American businessman who was also indicted on bribery charges, complaining about not having a car.

Shortly after the crash, Wael Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman also charged with bribery, arranged to buy this Mercedes for Arslanian, prosecutors say

The indictment alleges that the bribes came in through cash, gold bars and even the Mercedes convertible, all of which were seized during a search of the senator’s home.

Menendez, a staunch supporter of the Democratic Congress for 30 years, has angrily denied the allegations, telling a news conference: “I am confident that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be acquitted, but I will still will be new. Jersey’s senior senator.’

New facts are emerging about the fatal 2018 crash

In 2018, the fatal crash that killed Koop attracted no media attention and no charges against Arslanian.

The accident occurred around 7:35 p.m. at 155 East Main Street in Bogota, just outside the home where Koop lived.

Dashcam video from the crash scene shows Arslanian wearing a dress and fur coat as she speaks to a police officer.

After answering preliminary questions about the direction she was driving, Arslanian is heard telling police she wants to speak to a lawyer, explaining, “I don’t want to do anything wrong.”

Dashcam video from the crash scene shows Arslanian wearing a dress and fur coat while speaking to a police officer

Police records do not indicate that a field sobriety test was administered, and the dashcam video does not indicate that Arslanian was questioned about drugs or alcohol, the Record said.

According to a police report, Koop was found lying on the roadway with “severe head trauma, bleeding from the back of his head, bleeding from the face and possible broken legs and arms.”

Koop was transported to Holy Name Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 8:18 p.m.

‘Mrs. Arslanian was not at fault for this crash,” reads an investigative report from Bogota police. ‘Mr. Koop was jaywalking and did not cross at an intersection or at a marked crosswalk.”