Joe.My.God. LGBT News
CNN reports:
Nadine Menendez, wife of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, got a diamond engagement ring as part of extensive bribes the couple received in exchange for the senator’s influence, according to a new filing from prosecutors.
The ring was purchased for Nadine Menendez as part of a $150,000 bribe for her husband’s intervention in a criminal insurance fraud prosecution, prosecutors said in the Monday filing.
Part of the money was used to purchase a Mercedes-Benz convertible for Nadine Menendez, and one of the co-defendants in the case, businessman Wael Hana, purchased the ring for her but kept some of the money for himself, prosecutors allege.
The New York Times reports:
Prosecutors noted that Mr. Menendez contacted mayors in New Jersey during the pandemic, in late 2020 and early 2021, to ask them to authorize use of a specific laboratory — which at the time was paying Ms. Menendez — to perform Covid-19 testing.
Taken together, prosecutors said, these details amount to “substantial evidence that Menendez did in fact know about the corrupt quid pro quo.”
The new car replaced a vehicle that police records show Ms. Menendez was driving in December 2018 when she struck and killed a pedestrian, Richard Koop, in Bogota, N.J. Ms. Menendez was not tested for drugs or alcohol and was not charged with wrongdoing.
A diamond ring, a “007” phone and a Covid test lab were part of a bribery plot involving Senator Robert Menendez and his wife, prosecutors said. https://t.co/InkOqJcspP
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 14, 2024