Prosecutors seek seven-year prison term for wife of ex-Sen. Bob Menendez

NEW YORK (AP) — The wife of former Sen. Bob Menendez should serve at least seven years in prison for playing a pivotal role in a bribery scheme that put the New Jersey Democrat behind bars for 11 years, prosecutors told a judge Tuesday.

Nadine Menendez, age 58, was convicted in April, a year after her husband and two New Jersey business owners were convicted in a bribery scheme that left the Menendez couple with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash, gold bars and a luxury car. A third business owner pleaded guilty in the case and testified against the others.

In presentence arguments, prosecutors cited “damning evidence” that showed Nadine Menendez began scheming how to profit off her relationship with the senator within a day of meeting him seven years ago.

“The defendant’s extensive, deliberate, and exceedingly serious criminal conduct calls out for a substantial sentence,” they wrote. “She corruptly agreed and promised that her boyfriend and then husband, a United States Senator, would use his power and his office to secretly act on behalf of the people who were lining their pockets.”

They said she also “corruptly agreed and promised to influence national security and foreign relations,” promising the senator’s approval of billions of dollars in military aid to Egypt.

She also promised that the senator would help to disrupt multiple state and federal criminal investigations to benefit the business owners, prosecutors noted.

“In short, the defendant put the power of Menendez’s office up for sale in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes, including cash, gold, paychecks for a fake job, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible,” they wrote.

Lawyers for Nadine Menendez argued in their submission last week that their client “is not her husband, or her co-defendants.”

“Despite all of the Government’s efforts to present her as a vixen, the reality is far from that,” they said. “Her entire life has been marked by men who have taken advantage of her, and harmed her, in myriad ways. An extended sentence is not warranted, needed, or appropriate under these circumstances.”