Yahoo Finance Indicted Sen. Bob Menendez's Wife Struck and Killed a Man in 2018: Report
Both The Record and The New York Times cite a police report and dash cam footage of the incident, which took place when Nadine Menendez was dating the senator
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Nadine and Bob MenendezNew Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez's wife, Nadine Menendez, reportedly hit and killed a pedestrian in 2018 and was allowed to leave the scene without being taken into custody or tested for drugs and alcohol.
Both The Record and The New York Times cite a police report and dash cam footage of the incident, which took place when Nadine was dating the senator (her last name at the time was Arslanian). The outlets report that the incident occurred in the New Jersey borough of Bogota and that Nadine was declared “not at fault” because the victim had been jaywalking.
The dash cam footage shows Nadine in a dress and fur coat, speaking to police officers as well as a person identified as a retired cop from Hackensack, who came to the scene to assist her.
The victim is identified by the outlets as 49-year-old Richard Koop.
An attorney for the victim's estate told The Record that a surveillance video from a business on the street where the incident took place shows that Nadine “did not come to his aid or to even check on him.”
The attorney added that a settlement "for the maximum amount," was secured by the victim's family.
Nadine and the senator were indicted last month, following an investigation into their business dealings with three men who have ties to Egypt's government.
The 39-page indictment alleges that the senator, 69, and his wife, 56, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bribes in exchange for protecting the three businessmen — Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes — and to "benefit" the government of Egypt. Some of those bribes, prosecutors say, came in the form of envelopes stuffed with cash.
"Over $480,000 in cash — much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe — was discovered in the home, along with over $70,000 in Nadine Menendez's safe deposit box," the indictment alleges. Menendez, who was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time of the indictment, has since told reporters the cash came from his "personal savings."
Two of the businessmen mentioned in the indictment — Hana and Uribe — play a role in the fatal car accident, as well. The indictment alleges that the men helped finance a 2019 Mercedez-Benz C-300 convertible worth more than $60,000 for Nadine in the wake of the 2018 incident, which left her car totaled. In exchange, prosecutors allege, the men asked the senator to interfere in an unrelated state criminal case involving Uribe.
According to the Department of Justice Hana and Uribe "offered to help buy a new Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible worth more than $60,000 for Menendez and Nadine Menendez. In exchange, Menendez agreed and sought to interfere in the [New Jersey Attorney General's] criminal insurance fraud prosecution of an associate of Uribe and a related investigation involving an employee of Uribe."
On multiple occasions in 2019, Uribe, Hana, and Nadine briefed the senator on the investigation into Uribe's associates, prosecutors allege. "Following those briefings, and in exchange for the promise of the luxury convertible, Menendez contacted a senior state prosecutor ...who supervised the prosecution and investigation at least twice." During those communications, Menendez attempted to pressure the official to resolve the prosecution more favorably for Uribe, though the official did not agree to intervene.
According to the indictment, in exchange for Menendez's pressure campaign, Uribe provided Nadine with $15,000 cash for the down payment on the luxury convertible in April 2019. After the purchase was complete, Nadine messaged the senator, “Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes.❤️” along with a photo of the car.
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Many lawmakers have called on Menendez to resign in the wake of the indictment, though he has said he has no plans to step down. He is up for reelection in 2024.
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