Prosecutors seek 7-year prison term for ex-Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife Nadine Menendez

Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of at least seven years for Nadine Menendez, who was convicted alongside her husband, former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), in a scheme to trade his political power for lavish bribes.

Bob Menendez reported to a Pennsylvania federal prison in June to begin serving his 11-year sentence after he was found guilty of bribery and other corruption charges last year. Two New Jersey businessmen involved in the scheme, who gave the Menendezes hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars for the senator’s clout, are also serving time.

The government on Wednesday said Nadine Menendez played a “critical role” in the plot, not committing bribery “reluctantly, fleetingly, or on a small scale,” but instead, “eagerly.”

“The Government considers the defendant, who played a critical role at the heart of the scheme, to be the second most culpable member of the scheme, second only to Menendez,” prosecutors wrote.

Nadine Menendez was initially set to stand trial alongside her husband and the two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, but her case was severed from the others after informing the court she has breast cancer.

In her own sentencing memorandum, Nadine Menendez’s lawyers said she has lived a “lifetime of trauma,” from growing up in warworn Lebanon to facing gender-based trauma to cancer. They asked the judge for a sentence of one year and one day.

“Nadine is not her husband, or her co-defendants,” her lawyers wrote. “Despite all of the Government’s efforts to present her as a vixen, the reality is far from that.”

They argued that an extended sentence would “obliterate any possibility” Nadine Menendez receives the treatment necessary to battle her cancer, suggesting the Federal Bureau of Prisons is “particularly ill-equipped” to provide the type of cancer care she requires.

Prosecutors said that, if not for her “history of health conditions and unique personal circumstances,” the government would ask to impose a higher sentence than those handed down to Hana and Daibes, who were sentenced to just over eight and seven years, respectively.

“A sentence far less than that imposed on Hana or Daibes, as the defendant requests, would create a serious unwarranted disparity given her greater culpability, even after accounting for the mitigating factors she presents,” the government said, asserting that Nadine Menendez could receive certain medical procedures before beginning her sentence.

During Bob Menendez’s trial, his attorneys at times sought to pin the blame on Nadine Menendez, suggesting she hid her dealings with the businessmen from him. Nadine Menendez’s attorneys argued during her trial that the senator’s dealings with the businessmen amounted to a politician’s work for his constituents.

Both Nadine Menendez and her husband maintain they did not accept bribes.

She is set to be sentenced on Sept. 11.