Nadine Menendez Biography
Nadine Arslanian Menendez is the wife of New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez. The couple have been indicted for allegedly accepting bribes. They face three criminal counts: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. This was after they allegedly accepted gold bars and cash to secretly aid the Egyptian government.
Nadine Menendez Age- Bob Menendez wife Age
Nadine is 56 years old, she was born in 1967 in Lebanon.
Nadine Menendez Ethnicity
Nadine is an Armenian -American. She was born to Armenian parents in Lebanon but they immigrated to the United States during the country’s civil war. “During the Civil War, we fled Lebanon to Greece to London and came to the United States and stayed in Palo Alto, Calif., for about seven months, and then moved to New York.”
Nadine Menendez Education
Arslanian attended the New York University both for her undergraduate and graduate studies, majoring in international politics and French culture and civilization.
Nadine Menendez Husband – Bob Menendez
Nadine has been married to Senator Bob Menendez October 3, 2020. The couple first met in December 2018 after they were introduced by the owner of IHOP in Union City, N.J. Nadine said she didn’t know that Bob was a senator but he “was very intelligent and had a great sense of humor, and he was very, very hot.”
The couple began dating and traveled together visiting four continents in five months. On Oct. 3, 2019 while visiting India. Arslain was sitting on the Princess Diana bench at the Taj Mahal, when suddenly Mr. Menendez, who had been standing behind her, began singing “Never Enough,“ from the movie “The Greatest Showman” and the popped the question. The couple got married a year later on October.2, 2020.
Nadine is Bob’s second wife as he was previously married to Jane Jacobsen for 29 years until they divorced in 2005. The couple shares two daughters Alicia Menendez, who is a journalist on MSNBC and Robert Jacobsen Menendez Jr., who is a lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for New Jersey’s 8th congressional district.
Nadine Menendez Children
Nadine has two children from a previous relationship, their names are not in the public domain. Her daughter graduated from NYU while her son graduated from Northeastern University.
Nadine Menendez Job – Occupation
When Nadine met Bob, she wasn’t working but in June 2019 she started an international consulting company, Strategic International Business Consultants. According to the indictment, she set up the company with Menendez’s help to receive bribery payments. It is alleged that she told a relative that she receives payment everytime a deal is done. “Every time I’m a middle person for a deal, I am asking to get paid and this is my consulting company.”
Nadine Menendez Indictment
On September 22, 2023 Nadine alongside her husband Menendez were charged with taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, Menendez accepted accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash and gold bars in exchange for using his power and influence as New Jersey’s senior senator to benefit the government of Egypt and interfere with law enforcement probes into the businessmen.
According to the indictment, she worked with businessman Wael Hana to introduce Bob, who is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, to Egyptian officials. In March 2018, she was with Menendez when he met with Egyptian officials at his Senate office.
In May that year, Menendez allegedly sought sensitive information from the U.S. State Department regarding personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, and texted it to Arslanian which she then forwarded it to Egyptian. It is alleged that Hana rewarded Arslanian with a no-show job at his company and $23,000 to get her home out of foreclosure proceedings and in return Menendez promised to help Egypt benefit from U.S. military sales.
In June 2022, officials found more than $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in cash after they searched the couple’s Englewood Cliffs apartment. Arslanian’s safe deposit box contained another $70,000.
On July 16, 2024 her husband Bob Menendez was found guilty of all counts. He had pleaded not guilty and his team argued that he was acting on behalf of his constituents , and that the government had not proven that the cash or gold bars were given as bribes. This was Menendez second corruption trial in his 18 year career in the Senate. The previous one resulted in a mistrial due to a hung jury in 2018, and the justice department ended up dropping the charges against him.
On the other hand, Nadine’s trial was adjourned “sine die” meaning with no date, following her cancer diagnosis as she is currently undergoing cancer treatment.
Nadine Menendez Breast Cancer
In May, Bob released a statement where he revealed that Nadine had Grade 3 breast cancer which will require her to have a mastectomy. Her lawyer had also wrote in a court filing in June that she had “medical equipment implanted in her body and is in intense, chronic pain.”