A jury is resuming deliberations Monday within the bribery case introduced in opposition to Nadine Menendez after a prosecutor advised a jury that she was a “critical participant” in a five-year fraud together with her husband, former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez.
The jury started contemplating the costs in opposition to the 58-year-old Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, resident in mid-afternoon on Friday in Manhattan federal court docket. Jurors went dwelling almost two hours later with out reaching a verdict.
Bob Menendez, 71, a New Jersey Democrat, is to report back to jail in June to start an 11-year sentence. He stepped down from his Senate submit after his conviction final 12 months.
Throughout a closing argument Thursday, Nadine Menendez’s lawyer, Barry Coburn, argued that the proof was inadequate to lead to a conviction.
In a rebuttal argument on Friday morning, Assistant U.S. Legal professional Daniel Richenthal urged the jury to convict Nadine Menendez, saying they must consider that over $450,000 in money and gold bars value lots of of 1000’s of {dollars} extra that had been discovered by the FBI of their dwelling had been presents quite than bribes.
Prosecutors mentioned Nadine Menendez was a associate in her husband’s crimes, serving to to gather payoffs from three New Jersey businessmen in a wide-ranging scheme. The protection argued a number of the gold she acquired was not bribes, however quite had been handed down from her household or had been presents from businessmen who had been longtime associates. NBC New York’s Jonathan Dienst studies.
“They weren’t gifts,” he mentioned. “They were bribes.”
He referred to as the proof in opposition to her “consistent and overwhelming” and described her as an “active participant, a critical participant” within the bribery scheme.
Born in Lebanon of Armenian descent, Nadine Menendez started courting the senator in early 2018 when she was referred to as Nadine Arslanian. Prosecutors mentioned she quickly joined a bribery scheme involving three New Jersey businessmen. The couple was married within the fall of 2020.
Bob Menendez, whose Senate profession started in 2006, carried out the bribery scheme whereas he held highly effective positions on the influential Senate International Relations Committee.
He was compelled from the committee after he was charged within the case.
The trial for Nadine Menendez was postponed final 12 months after she was identified with breast most cancers and required surgical procedure.
