Wife of pro-Armenian ex-Senator Bob Menendez faces jury selection in bribery trial

Jury selection has commenced in the bribery trial of Nadine Menendez, whose husband, former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, was sentenced to 11 years in prison earlier this year for accepting large sums of gold and cash. 

Bob Menendez, who resigned as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in August 2024, was previously known for his opposition to arms sales to NATO ally Türkiye, allegedly due to his connections with Greek and Armenian lobbying groups in the United States, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

The 58-year-old Nadine Menendez was initially set to face trial alongside her 71-year-old husband last year, but a breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent surgery delayed proceedings. She has pleaded not guilty to charges claiming she was involved in the same bribery scheme that led to her husband's conviction.

Bob Menendez was found guilty of accepting bribes from three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for a range of favours, including using his political influence to assist them with foreign governments. He was convicted of acting as an unregistered agent for the Egyptian government. Menendez is scheduled to report to prison on 6 June.

During the two-month trial of her husband, Nadine Menendez was mentioned frequently in connection to the businessmen. One of them testified that he had purchased a luxury car for her after the senator attempted to intervene in a criminal investigation involving one of his associates. In 2022, the FBI raided the couple’s home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, uncovering over $100,000 worth of gold bars and more than $480,000 in cash hidden in envelopes within shoe boxes, jackets, and boots.

Throughout his trial, Bob Menendez insisted that the gold bars belonged to his wife, and that the cash was a result of his habit of hoarding money – a practice attributed to his parents’ escape from Cuba in 1951, during which they concealed their savings in a grandfather clock.

By Aghakazim Guliyev