The wife of ex-Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) was on Thursday sentenced to more than four years in prison for her role in a scheme to trade her husband’s political power for lavish bribes.
Nadine Menendez, 58, was convicted in April of plotting with her husband, the former chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to exchange his clout for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz.
Prosecutors said last month she played a “critical role” in the plot, selling his influence not “reluctantly, fleetingly, or on a small scale,” but “eagerly.”
But the 54-month sentence falls short of the 7-year prison term the government asked a judge to impose.
U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein granted leniency in part because of the trial she endured, her childhood in warworn Lebanon, a history of abusive romantic partners, her health conditions and her age, according to the Associated Press. At the same time, Stein emphasized it was important the sentence be tough enough to deter similar crimes.
“People have to understand there are consequences,” the judge said.
The government wrote in court filings last month that it sees Nadine Menendez as the “second most culpable member of the scheme.”
“Second only to Menendez,” prosecutors wrote.
Bob Menendez, 71, is serving his 11-year sentence at a Pennsylvania federal prison. He was convicted on all counts last year, including for acting as an agent of the Egyptian government, making him the first public official ever convicted of acting as a foreign agent while in office.
Before Nadine Menendez’s sentence was handed down, she said through tears that she believed she was duped by her husband’s power and stature, compelled to do as he asked, such as calling or meeting with certain people.
She portrayed Bob Menendez as a manipulator, contending he is “not the man I thought he was.”
“I would never have imagined someone of his ranking putting me in this position,” she said, according to the Associated Press, though acknowledging that she should have known better.
During Bob Menendez’s trial, his attorneys at times sought to pin the blame on Nadine Menendez, suggesting she hid her dealings with the other defendants, three New Jersey businessmen, from him. He wrote in a letter to the court ahead of her sentencing that it was “simply wrong” to suggest his wife was money hungry and would solicit others’ help.
The two New Jersey businessmen who bribed the Menendezes are also serving time. A third businessman pleaded guilty before facing trial and has not yet been sentenced.
Nadine Menendez was initially set to stand trial alongside her husband and the two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, but a judge severed her case from the others after she told the court of her breast cancer.
She asked the court last month for a prison term of just one year and one day, claiming an extended sentence would “obliterate any possibility” of receiving the treatment necessary to battle her cancer.
In an 11th-hour court filing Wednesday, Nadine Menendez’s lawyers submitted a letter from her plastic surgeon explaining that she experienced complications with a prior surgery and would need additional procedures to “alleviate her debilitating and unremitting pain.” The first procedure alone would take several months for recovery, the doctor, whose name was redacted, said.
The government previously said that, if not for her “history of health conditions and unique personal circumstances,” it would have sought an even higher sentence to avoid a discrepancy between the defendants.
