Hundreds of personal text messages and calls between Senator Bob Menendez and his then-girlfriend (now wife) Nadine about dinners with Egyptian officials and late mortgage payments highlight the couple’s poor financial situation.
They were brought before the court to highlight the “desperate” financial situation experienced by Menendez and his now wife Nadine.
Prosecutors are apparently trying to link Nadine and her husband’s need for cash to gifts and gold bars allegedly given to them by businessmen co-defendants in the case.
The Menendezes’ mortgage payments, revealed in communications read to the jury by an FBI special agent, are allegedly part of the bribery scheme.
Nadine’s home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, was in danger of being foreclosed after she missed nearly $20,000 in mortgage payments in 2019, before she and the senator were married.
But prosecutors say their money problem was solved by Egyptian-American businessman Wael ‘Will’ Hana, who spent the money to save the house.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., arrives at a federal courthouse in New York Thursday morning.
It is the same abode that the New Jersey Democrat moved into after marrying Nadine in 2020 and which was raided by the FBI as part of its investigation.
They say Hana’s favor was returned by Menendez in the form of help securing a lucrative contract for Hana’s halal meat business with the Egyptian government.
According to the Justice Department’s indictment, the Menendezes each face a maximum of 45 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
After helping Nadine, Hana and the senator’s wife had a fight.
“Can you believe Will said he doesn’t need me to make appointments with you to come see you at your office and have dinner with you?” Nadine texted Menendez. ‘The man has gone crazy after everything I have done for him!!!!!’
She also told lawyer Howard Dorian, who had represented Hana, that she was “pretty disappointed” in the halal mogul.
Nadine and Bob Menéndez together at a dinner in honor of French President Emmanuel Macron
During an FBI raid on the couple’s home, authorities found 13 gold bars.
During the raid, authorities found $480,000 in cash scattered around the home.
“Wael asked me for a very important dinner and meetings in Washington for next week on Monday, which I agreed to, among other things, and he still hasn’t kept any of his promises,” Nadine texted Dorian.
In turn, Dorian texted an associate: “It’s very important that we make sure Nadine is happy because she’s not.” He is going to cancel the meetings that Wael had arranged with Senator Menéndez for Monday.
“It’s extremely important that we keep Nadine happy,” Dorian texted one of the businessmen involved in the scheme.
And Nadine’s role in the alleged bribery scheme far surpassed Hana and her husband’s mere connection, prosecutors say.
She also allegedly pressured her legislator husband, at Hana’s request, to expressly promote Egypt’s goals.
At the time, Menéndez served in the powerful role of chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Some cash was found stored in a trunk.
Alleged bribe payments were scattered around the couple’s home
Tons of cash were also found hidden in bags.
Wael Hana arrives in federal court for his bribery trial in relation to Senator Menéndez
New Jersey developer Fred Daibes is also implicated in the bribery scheme.
‘In your speech, could you please say that Egypt is going in the right direction with the new government? ‘With the International Monetary Fund and all the new developments, new capital and the new Suez Canal. “Egypt is important to America,” she texted her husband.
Prosecutors further revealed how deeply she was connected to Egyptian officials.
‘I am meeting with Egypt’s intelligence chief. “I’m so sorry,” she messaged someone trying to contact her.
Menendez and his wife Nadine are accused of a bribery scheme that included gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a luxury Mercedes-Benz.
Hana and another businessman, Fred Daibes, co-defendants in the case, are accused of providing such luxuries.
They have all pleaded not guilty and Nadine will face a separate trial later this summer as she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
José Uribe, a third businessman involved in the case, pleaded guilty and is expected to testify in the case.
The Democratic senator’s team has tried to distance itself from Nadine in the ongoing bribery trial.
Menendez’s defense attorneys have claimed that the 13 gold bars and $480,000 in cash stored in clothing, shoes and a safe discovered by the FBI during a raid on the couple’s home were there because of the trauma the senator suffered. for squandering his family’s fortune before being murdered. born in 1954.
They argue that their fear of running out of money is because their parents’ belongings were confiscated in Castro’s Cuba more than half a century ago.
Senator Bob Menendez was seen arriving home with a box of hemorrhoid cream at his home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
The brand RectiCare is an over-the-counter medication.
The trial resumed Thursday and Menendez arrived at court around 9 a.m.
Last week, Menendez was seen arriving at the couple’s home in New Jersey with a container of hemorrhoid cream.
It is unclear whether the ailment developed due to the long hours the Democrat was forced to sit throughout the trial.