By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The wife of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is being sentenced for her conviction for selling her husband’s influence for bribes of cash and gold bars.
Nadine Menendez, 58, could get as little as a year in prison or multiple years behind bars after she was convicted of colluding with her husband, the former Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a variety of corrupt schemes, some involving assisting the Egyptian government.
Soon after the hearing began Thursday, Judge Sidney H. Stein said he planned to sentence her to a prison term “substantially below” the federal sentencing guideline range of roughly 20 years. The Probation Department had recommended an eight-year prison term.
Prosecutors say she played a large and crucial role in her husband’s crimes, serving as an intermediary between the senator and three New Jersey businessmen who literally lined his coat pockets with tens of thousands of dollars in cash in return for favors he could deliver with his political clout.
Prosecutors have requested that she spend at least seven years in prison.
Her lawyers have sought leniency, saying she shouldn’t spend more than a year in prison after a life of good deeds and recent health problems.
During a 2022 FBI raid on the couple’s New Jersey home, investigators found $480,000 in cash, gold bars worth an estimated $150,000 and a luxury convertible in the garage.
Bob Menendez, 71, is serving an 11-year sentence after his conviction last year on charges of taking bribes, extortion, and acting as an agent of the Egyptian government.
Prosecutors said that, among his other corrupt acts, the senator met with Egyptian intelligence officials and speeded that country’s access to U.S. military aid as part of a complex effort to help his bribe-paying associates, one of whom had business dealings with the Egyptian government.
Nadine Menendez was tried separately because she was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly before she was to go to trial. She was convicted in April.
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