Bob Menendez says wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, is battling breast cancer

Less than 24 hours after his attorneys painted a picture of secrets and betrayal in a federal courtroom where they are co-defendants in an alleged corruption and bribery scheme, Sen. Bob Menendez announced that his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, has breast cancer.

“Nadine is suffering from Grade 3 breast cancer, which will require her to have mastectomy surgery,” the statement from Menendez said. “We are of course, concerned about the seriousness and advanced stage of the disease. She will require follow up surgery and possibly radiation treatment.”

Arslanian Menendez is Menendez’s co-defendant but will not stand trial until this summer, because U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein granted a postponement for her after her attorney submitted a letter saying she was "recently diagnosed with a serious medical condition," according to a letter from her attorney to Stein.

The letter, dated April 9, said the condition means Arslanian Menendez will need a "surgical procedure in the next four to six weeks as well as possibly significant follow-up and recovery treatment."

Stein has tentatively scheduled a hearing for June and a start date for the trial in July. Arslanian made a motion to sever the trials earlier, before a judge deemed it moot because of the medical diagnosis.

Her co-defendants include her husband, Menendez, and New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana and North Jersey developer Fred Daibes. A third, Jose Uribe, flipped his not guilty plea to guilty and agreed to cooperate.

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What are the charges in the case?

The newest superseding indictment — up to 18 counts from four — added new charges for the senator, his wife, Hana and Daibes, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice, and alleged that Menendez was working to benefit Qatar in addition to Egypt.

The indictment includes allegations that Arslanian received a car paid for by co-defendants Hana and Uribe in 2019. She totaled her previous car in December 2018 when her vehicle hit and killed pedestrian Richard Koop on a Bogota street.

She did not call the police for nearly five minutes after the initial incident. She has displayed a habit of calling the police to her home.

The federal indictment says Menendez and his wife allegedly received, among other things, cash, gold bars and the luxury car in exchange for his using his political influence.

Relationship with senator began in 2018

Arslanian began dating the senator in February 2018 and married him in October 2020.

They walked into federal court in Manhattan hand in hand in September and pleaded not guilty after they were initially indicted.

Seven months later, Menendez's attorney described Nadine as "dazzling" and said they had separate lives even while living together.

Arslanian hid financial challenges from her husband before they met and during their time together, Menendez's lawyer, Avi Weitzman, said in his opening remarks — less than 24 hours before Menendez announced his wife's medical diagnosis. Weitzman also pointed out that the now-infamous gold bars were found in Arslanian’s locked closet, not Menendez's.

"Whenever you see a document that says Nadine or Hana or Daibes, ask yourself, where's Bob?" Weitzman said.

Lara Pomerantz, a federal prosecutor trying the case, told jurors Wednesday that New Jersey's senior senator used his wife as a go-between for the schemes and business dealings that resulted in their receiving cash and gold bars.

Arslanian Menendez’s past

Before and after Arslanian began dating Menendez, records show, she was a habitual caller to 911 who frequently alerted police that she believed people were following her or breaking into her home.

Since 2010, she has called the police at least 18 times, including one stretch that included 10 calls in just a year and a half.

In a visit to Englewood Cliffs police headquarters she said she had been approached by “acquaintances” at a local restaurant who advised her not to go to court for a subpoena that she had received.

More: This cast of characters has been linked to the Menendez investigation

Arslanian called the Englewood Cliffs police headquarters in March 2014 to report that she was being followed while driving in Paramus. In August of that year, she told police she was being followed while running errands in Hackensack.

She was not the only one to call the police on her behalf.

Douglas Anton, identifying himself as her boyfriend, called police headquarters for a welfare check on Arslanian in April 2018. He said at the time that he had not heard from her in days. Anton is a North Jersey-based criminal attorney, music manager and sports agent.

2018 crash left Richard Koop dead

In 2018, Arslanian was driving a Mercedes when she reportedly struck and killed 49-year-old pedestrian Richard Koop as she drove down a Bogota street. It took her five minutes to call police, records show.

Reports filed by the Bogota Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office indicate that Arslanian's phone records were to be subpoenaed as part of the investigation into the crash that killed Koop.

Those subpoenas were never issued, nor were the phone records ever delivered to investigators, NorthJersey.com found after seeking public records pertaining to the crash.

Months later, it was Menendez who picked up the car from an impound lot. Uribe later made the payments to buy Nadine a new car, according to the indictment.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Nadine Arslanian Menendez is battling breast cancer