Sen. Bob Menendez's wife got engagement ring through bribery scheme: prosecutors

The wife of embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) got a diamond engagement ring as part of a bribe her husband got in exchange for his influence, according to a new court filing.

Prosecutors allege the ring was purchased for Nadine Menendez by businessman Wael Hana, a co-defendant in a criminal insurance fraud prosecution, as part of a $150,000 bribe for the senator's intervention in that case and on matters benefiting the Egyptian government, reported CNN.

Some of the money was also used to buy a Mercedes-Benz convertible, and Hana kept some of the money for himself, and a confidential source communicating with Egypt worried that he might disrupt the scheme by skimming some of that bribe money.

“This complaint — that the failure to deliver the full amount of the promised bribe would harm Menendez’s relationship with Egypt — obviously does not undermine the conclusion that Menendez was in a corrupt relationship for the benefit of Egypt,” prosecutors wrote. “It is instead strong proof that he was.”

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Menendez, his wife and Hana have all pleaded not guilty to the charges, as have two other co-defendants in the case.

Prosecutors say that $100,000 was found on top of a large rack of clothes hangers at the senator's house, along with four boots “stuffed with cash, including one boot containing in excess of $5,000 in $50 bills, marked with a note stating ‘5350.’”

Court documents also show that Menendez allegedly contacted mayors in New Jersey in late 2020 and early 2021 to persuade them to contract with the Laboratory Company, which was paying his wife, to conduct COVID-19 testing.

Investigators say they found text messages and call records showing both Bob and Nadine Menendez's involvement in the "corrupt quid pro quo."