‘Intergenerational trauma’ drove Sen. Menendez to stash cash at home, attorneys say

Sen. Bob Menendez leaves the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in Manhattan after pleading not guilty to federal corruption charges on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. (Aristide Economopoulos for New Jersey Monitor)

Sen. Bob Menendez’s legal team asked a federal judge this week to sanction prosecutors in his corruption case for publicly disclosing a psychiatric condition defense attorneys say drove the senator to hoard cash in his home.

In a court filing, prosecutors included a letter from Menendez’s attorneys that revealed they planned to call a New York psychiatrist to testify that the senator’s “intergenerational trauma” created an undisclosed mental health disorder that caused him to store his riches at home. Such behavior is a common coping mechanism for trauma victims who have experienced scarcity, the attorneys said.

Specifically, the psychiatrist would reveal that the senator suffered “two significant traumatic events” — his father was a compulsive gambler who died by suicide after Menendez quit paying off his gambling debts and the Cuban government confiscated most of his parents’ money, leaving them with just a small amount of cash they kept at home, the letter said.

Menendez’s parents emigrated to New York City, where he was born, in the early 1950s, and he grew up in Union. His father died in the late 1970s.

The senator never received treatment for his resulting mental health struggles, the letter noted.

Such information should have been redacted because they were “deeply private and sensitive details about Senator Menendez’s personal history and mental health diagnoses,” and they revealed defense strategy, which likely tainted the jury pool, attorneys Adam Fee and Avi Weitzman wrote Thursday to Judge Sidney H. Stein.

“There is thus no excuse or justification for the government’s conduct,” Fee wrote. “This Court can, and should, order a remedy to attempt to mitigate the damage caused by the government’s conduct.”

He asked Stein to order prosecutors, who are trying to block the psychiatrist’s testimony, to explain the disclosure to determine if it was intentional, and consider sanctions.

In other court filings this week, prosecutors asked Stein to bar testimony by the Qatari investors who businessman Fred Daibes allegedly bribed Menendez to influence, saying whether they invested is irrelevant to if the bribe occurred. And defense attorneys indicated they plan to call an accountant to testify that the senator “lived within his means.”

Previous filings showed Menendez will likely blame his wife Nadine for his legal troubles.

The trial for Menendez and two of his four co-defendants — Daibes and businessman Wael Hana — is set to start May 13 at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan federal courthouse in Manhattan. Health issues prompted Stein to postpone Nadine Menendez’s trial to July, and Jose Uribe, another co-defendant, pleaded guilty in March.

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