US senator's wife draws scrutiny in federal probe

WORLD  20 November 2022 - 16:02

Federal prosecutors investigating US Senator Bob Menendez are examining whether his wife received gifts or services from individuals who sought favours from the New Jersey politician.

The US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York has subpoenaed associates of Mr Menendez’s wife, Nadine Arslanian, whom he married in 2020, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Subpoenas issued in recent months have asked for information about both Ms Arslanian and Mr Menendez.

Investigators’ interest in Ms Arslanian hasn’t been previously reported. It couldn’t be determined exactly what information prosecutors are seeking about Ms Arslanian.

The probe is separate from the 2015 public-corruption case prosecutors brought against Mr Menendez, which led to a mistrial. Mr Menendez, a Democrat, has been a US senator since 2006 and serves as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

A spokesman for the US attorney’s office declined to comment. Lawyers for Ms Arslanian and Mr Menendez didn’t respond to requests for comment.

A representative for Mr. Menendez referred to a previous statement in which he said the senator was aware of an investigation. “As always, should any official inquiries be made, the senator is available to provide any assistance that is requested of him or his office,” said Michael Soliman, a political consultant and adviser to Mr Menendez.

The probe dates back to at least 2019. Late that year, court records show, federal investigators executed search warrants at the home and office of Wael Hana, the founder of IS EG Halal, an Edgewater, N.J., company that was designated the only business allowed to certify halal meat being exported to Egypt. Mr Hana is an associate of Ms. Arslanian, according to the people familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors were investigating possible undisclosed foreign lobbying in the US and other potential violations of federal law, according to court documents filed in 2020 by Lawrence Lustberg, a lawyer for Mr. Hana, who was seeking the return of property seized by the government.

Mr. Lustberg said in a statement that Mr. Hana is aware of the government’s ongoing investigation and has asked prosecutors to share more information about the focus of the probe so he can address any concerns.

“Once he has the opportunity to do so, and the truth comes out, he is confident that the government will recognize that he has done absolutely nothing wrong, including that IS EG was awarded its Halal certification contract with Egypt without any assistance whatsoever from any US public official,” Mr Lustberg said.

Prosecutors in recent months also subpoenaed New Jersey lawyer Antranig Aslanian, a longtime friend of Ms. Arslanian who has represented Mr. Hana. Mr. Aslanian said that when prosecutors questioned him about Ms. Arslanian, he told them that he had known her for 25 years and that they were both Armenian. “If she was somewhere and I saw her, I’d say, ‘Hey, would you like a drink?’” he said. “I said to the US attorney, ‘Is there something wrong with that? If I saw you out, I’d offer you a drink’.”

Mr Aslanian said he had no idea what prosecutors were looking for.

Mr Menendez and Ms Arslanian live in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Media reports about the couple’s engagement and wedding identify Ms Arslanian as an international businesswoman.

She attended New York University and studied international politics, she said in a 2020 interview posted on YouTube.

State business records show Ms Arslanian is the president of Strategic International Business Consultants LLC, a holding company that was incorporated in New Jersey in 2019. Mr Menendez’s recent federal financial disclosures show that Ms Arslanian earned income from the company last year. The senator’s disclosure forms also showed she worked for Fusion Diagnostics Laboratories, a New Jersey medical testing company. She worked for a short time in sales and marketing, Fusion’s chief executive, Moataz Abdalla, said.

Caliber.Az