Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery in a massive corruption scheme.
He was accused of taking part in a years-long foreign corruption scandal that netted him gold bars, cash and a new car.
The lawmaker sat in a New York federal court for more than eight weeks as witnesses and prosecutors revealed shocking details of his alleged scheme to reward several New Jersey businessmen with favors in exchange for payments, prosecutors alleged.
The jury deliberated for three days before reaching a verdict.
On Tuesday, Menendez was found guilty on all 16 charges against him, including acting as a foreign agent. He faces up to 222 years in prison for his crimes.
A jury has reached a verdict in the bribery trial of Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who is accused of taking part in a years-long foreign corruption scandal that netted him gold bars, cash and a new car
Menendez used his prominent position as former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to help a man negotiate a contract with Egyptian officials, prosecutors explained during the trial.
And he used his influence as a New Jersey senator to stop a state investigation into another accomplice’s insurance fraud case, prosecutors said.
Menendez’s defense argued that the Democrat was afraid of running out of money and that his Cuban heritage was the reason he kept gold and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in his home.
The New Jersey Democrat and his wife were under investigation for allegedly accepting bribes in the form of cash, gold bars and a luxury car over the past five years to do favors for three businessmen also charged in the case.
In June 2022, the FBI raided the senator’s home and discovered the fruits of his corrupt labor.
They alleged that the 13 gold bars, nearly half a million dollars in cash and the Mercedes-Benz convertible found during the search were all bribes to Menendez and his wife, Nadine.
The longtime lawmaker sat in a New York federal court for more than eight weeks as witnesses and prosecutors revealed chilling details of his alleged scheme to reward several New Jersey businessmen with favors in exchange for payments, prosecutors alleged.
Menendez allegedly abused his prominent position as former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to help a man negotiate a contract with Egyptian officials
The Menendezs have pleaded not guilty to the corruption scandal. Nadine Menendez will be tried in a separate trial for her recent diagnosis of breast cancer.
Two of the New Jersey businessmen charged with the Menendezes, Wael “Will” Hana — a halal meat magnate — and Fred Daibes — a real estate developer — have also pleaded not guilty.
Jose Uribe, a former insurance broker, pleaded guilty in the case earlier this year and has since testified that he bribed the Menendezes.
“I made arrangements with Nadine Menendez and other people to provide Nadine with a car so that Mr. Menendez would have more power and influence,” Uribe told the court.
He bought her a Mercedes-Benz convertible for helping him “stop” investigations by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office into several of his associates.
As it turned out, Nadine, through both the prosecution and Menendez’s lawyers, played a central role in the alleged bribery schemes in the case, often acting as a go-between between her husband and his criminal accomplices.
After a jury in 2017 dismissed a previous federal corruption case, Menendez, who has been a New Jersey senator since 2006, was poised to run for re-election.
Part of that metamorphosis was an exciting new relationship with Nadine Arslanian in 2018.
Nadine, a tall, striking blonde Lebanese-American woman 13 years younger than Bob, was also divorced.
She divorced Raffi Arslanian, a real estate agent, in 2005 after getting together in 1989 and having two children, Today in the US reported. The divorce left her in debt and with little money.
But her luck turned when she entered into a relationship with the wealthy and powerful Menendez in February 2018.
Nadine introduced her future husband to Wael ‘Will’ Hana and soon arranged dozens of meetings between the two.
A Mercedes Menendez and his wife are alleged to have been involved in a widespread bribery plot
Hana, a halal meat magnate, had good connections to Egyptian officials and Menendez’s role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee was undoubtedly a useful connection, prosecutors said.
In the summer of 2018, Nadine and Hana met with the Senator and Egyptian officials at the Democratic Senate office in Washington DC and elsewhere.
In May, Menendez asked the State Department for information about the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and then passed the information on to Egyptian military officials.
His lawyers opposed this, arguing that the information was already public.
Later in July, the senator again met with Egyptian military officials who wanted a $100 million deal for tank ammunition.
After the meeting, which was coordinated by Nadine, Menendez texted her: “Tell Will I’m closing the sale to Egypt today.”
Nadine sent the message to Hana, who later forwarded it to the Egyptian authorities, who responded positively.
The couple kept a close eye on each other, tracking each other through their iPhones. Sometimes Menendez would text Nadine when her tracker went off.
“I lost you,” Menendez once texted Nadine.
Prosecutors argued that the tracking convinced the Democrat that his middleman was carrying out his illegal deals, while the senator’s defense argued that Nadine’s ex-partners posed a threat to her and that Menendez was worried about him.
The 57-year-old, born in Lebanon, has sometimes caused “too much drama,” according to Menendez’s lawyers. She is known to party and socialize with cast members of “Mob Wives” and “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
In December 2018, Nadine was involved in a car accident in which 49-year-old Richard Koop was killed.
After the accident, she needed a new car and the couple couldn’t free up the money fast enough to buy one, so they called in help.
Menendez and his wife Nadine arrive for the state banquet with President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House in June 2023
Prosecutors said money was found throughout his home, including in a trunk.
Hana and former insurance executive Jose Uribe had an answer.
“I remember telling her, if your problem is the car, my problem is saving my family,” Uribe said during the trial.
He then told the jury how he gave Nadine $15,000 in cash in a restaurant parking lot.
Uribe added that he had been financing Nadine’s new Mercedes-Benz C 3000 convertible for years.
In return, the former insurance broker requested that Menendez drop the New Jersey Attorney General’s investigation into his friends.
Uribe says he met the senator at his home and discussed the investigation when Menendez rang a bell to summon Nadine.
After hearing the bell, she came out with papers. Menendez then wrote down the names Uribe had told him, and the next day met with the New Jersey Attorney General.
Later in 2019, the Menendezes went out to dinner with Hana and Egyptian officials at Morton’s Steakhouse in Washington, DC.
Unbeknownst to the couple, the businessman or the officials, an FBI agent was sitting at a table next to them, watching the entire meeting.
“What else can the love of my life do for you?” Nadine asked the men at the table, the officer later testified.
The Menendezes go out to dinner with Jose Uribe in 2019
A few days later, Menendez called an official from the Department of Agriculture to ask him to reconsider an export contract so that Hana could benefit from it.
As time went on, Nadine and the senator’s relationship grew stronger, leading to the Democrat proposing to the blonde divorcée outside the Taj Mahal in India.
The two married in 2020, which involved Nadine in more of the senators’ affairs.
Ultimately, now that Menendez has been found guilty, he almost certainly will not win re-election this fall. He could even face prison time.