Lawyers for Nadine Menendez are requesting 12 months and one day of imprisonment when she is sentenced on September 11, having been found guilty on all counts in the bribery and fraud trial that also landed her husband behind bars.
In their 25-page letter to Judge Sidney Stein, Menendez’s lawyers detailed the hardships she’s encountered throughout her life, writing, “Nadine 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. She is a deeply traumatized woman.”
They added, “Her entire life has been marked by men who have taken advantage of her, and harmed her, in myriad ways.”
Other letters from friends, family and her husband, Bob, also pleaded for leniency.
Prosecutors said Nadine Menendez was a partner in her husband’s crimes, helping to collect payoffs from three New Jersey businessmen in a wide-ranging scheme. The defense argued some of the gold she received was not bribes, but rather were passed down from her family or were gifts from businessmen who were longtime friends. NBC New York’s Jonathan Dienst reports.
Bob Menendez, who wrote his letter from prison at FCI Alletown in Pennsylvania, stated that his wife of five years has been punished enough and has lost everything she cared about.
“Your Honor, you gave me a tough sentence that surely serves the deterrent value you said was needed. To imprison Nadine, would not recognize the trauma she has suffered, how it has affected her and her judgment, and I would respectfully say would not have any greater deterrent effect,” wrote the 71-year-old.
Bob Menendez went on to say he regrets that she was painted as money-hungry during his trial.
“I regret that I didn’t fully preview what my defense attorney said about Nadine during my trial and in his summation. To suggest that Nadine was money-hungry or in financial need, and therefore would solicit others for help, is simply wrong,” he wrote.
Bob Menendez added that Nadine Menendez had money of her own from a previous divorce, and that any discussions about mortgage or car payments that were referred to in the trial were the result of fears of a lawsuit following the fatal car accident she was involved in.
Several medical professionals also wrote letters on Nadine Menendez’s behalf. A former BOP physician wrote that she would not be able to get the medial attention needed for her breast cancer treatments and that home confinement would be the better option for her.
In April, Nadine Menendez was convicted of the same corruption charges that sent Bob Menendez to prison for 11 years.
