A New York jury has found Nadine Menendez, the wife of a former New Jersey senator guilty of her role in a years-long bribery conspiracy involving stacks of cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes-Benz.
Menendez, 58, was found guilty of all 15 counts, including bribery and obstruction of justice, for assisting her husband, former Senator Robert Menendez, who received extravagant gifts in exchange for political favours.
She was indicted alongside her husband in September 2023, but her trial was postponed due to breast cancer treatment.
Menendez’s sentencing date has been set for June 12. Her spouse was convicted in July 2024 and sentenced to 11 years in jail.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York stated in a statement that the couple were “partners in crime” who engaged in “corrupt official acts”.
“Today’s verdict sends the clear message that the power of government officials may not be put up for sale,” the statement said.
During the trial, prosecutors said that Menendez was an essential component of her husband’s bribery scheme, telling the jury that she frequently accepted cash and other gifts on behalf of the former senator.
For more than five years, her husband was the leading Democrat on the important Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which gave him tremendous influence over US foreign policy.
“She was keeping him in the loop every step of the way,” Paul M. Monteleoni, a prosecutor, said in a closing argument, the New York Times reported.
Menendez’s lawyers argued the prosecution failed to prove a link between the gold and stacks of cash found in the couple’s house to any “official act” taken by her husband.
Standing outside the New York courthouse on Monday afternoon, her lawyer, Barry Coburn, said he was “devastated by the verdict”.
“We fought hard, and it hurts,” Mr Coburn said. “This is a very rough day for us.”
Menendez and her husband were convicted of taking part in a large-scale scheme to secretly aid the Egyptian government while using the former senator’s position in Washington, according to prosecutors.
The government backed up its assertions with evidence from an FBI raid of the couple’s New Jersey home in 2022, which found over $100,000 (£80,000) in gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash hidden in envelopes or garments.
They also presented digital evidence, such as text exchanges between the couple and their colleagues and a Google search by the former senator that asked, “How much is one kilo of gold worth?”
Fred Daibes, a New Jersey property developer, and Wael Hana, the Egyptian-born owner of a halal certification organisation, were also accused and convicted for their involvement.
Jose Uribe, an insurance broker, pleaded guilty in March 2024 to charges linked to the corruption conspiracy.
