3801) Armenian Genocide Recognition Role of Senator Menendez & His Armenian Wife: FBI Corruption Probe: $400K in Gold Bars Sold

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senator  Menendez Speaks About Genocide Recognition, Cites Impact Of Wife Nadine Arslanian's Family Story
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As Senator Bob Menendez meets with the leaders of the Cypriot-Armenian community, echoes of Turkish lawmakers have resurfaced criticizing the US senator for prioritizing family relationships at the expense of damaging ties between the United States and Turkey.

Senator Menendez has been a staunch champion of the Armenian Cause and his quest to hold Turkey accountable for the Armenian Genocide has been scrutinized by many Turkish legislators.

Kilic argued that Senator Menendez behaved this way, because his wife, Nadine Arslanian is Armenian. Kilic said, “We know his wife is in the Armenian diaspora. It’s not right to make moves in politics based on populist and family motives that could damage relations with a country, a parliament and a nation.”

In April US President Joe Biden formally recognized the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide, making him the first US president to recognize the massacre as an act of genocide.



However, his wife Nadine has played an integral role in reigniting the flame of justice and continuing to remind Menendez and the American community at large, that Armenian Genocide recognition is only the first step towards justice.

Menendez married his Armenian fiancée Nadine Arslanian in 2020 after dating for several years. The couple is said to have first met in 2011.

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Feds consider charging Sen. Bob Menendez after years-long corruption probe: report

https://nypost.com/2023/08/25/doj-considering-charging-sen-bob-menendez-in-corruption-probe/

Lawyers for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) are expected to meet with federal prosecutors in the coming weeks as the Justice Department nears a decision on whether to charge the powerful lawmaker after a years-long corruption probe. . .

The expected discussions between the 69-year-old’s legal team and prosecutors from the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office will provide Menendez an opportunity to make the case for why he shouldn’t be indicted, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

It’s unclear what potential counts could be leveled against the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman or whether his wife, 56-year-old Nadine Arslanian, has been implicated in the government’s investigation, according to the outlet.

The Southern District of New York’s probe into both Menendez and Arslanian — who had been struggling financially and facing foreclosure on her home before marrying the senator in 2020 — has focused on whether they received unreported luxury gifts, including a car and a Washington apartment, in return for political favors, according to reports.

Bob Menendez Lawyers for Bob Menendez are expected to meet with federal prosecutors in the coming weeks as the Justice Department nears a decision on whether to charge the senator. AP

The investigation dates back to at least 2019, according to the Journal, when federal investigators executed search warrants against New Jersey businessman Wael Hana, who runs the only company allowed to certify meat exports to Egypt as halal and is an associate of Arslanian.


“Any allegations about cars, apartments, cash, and jewelry being provided by anyone associated with ISEG Halal to Senator Menendez or his wife at all, let alone in exchange for any kind of favorable treatment, are totally without basis,” a spokeswoman for Hana told the outlet.

“As stated previously, the Senator remains confident this matter will be successfully resolved,” Jennifer Morrill, a spokeswoman for Menendez, told The Post on Friday.

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife Nadine Arslanian arrive for a reception honoring of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his wife Mareva Mitsotakis in the East Room of the White House on May 16, 2022 in Washington, DC.It’s unclear what potential counts could be leveled against the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman or whether his wife, 56-year-old Nadine Arslanian, has been implicated in the government’s investigation.Getty Images

The DOJ’s current investigation is separate from a 2015 probe that resulted in bribery and corruption charges against the Garden State senator and ended in a mistrial two years later with the jury deadlocked.

In the 2015 case, prosecutors alleged that Menendez, who has served in the Senate since 2006, accepted nearly $1 million in private jet flights, vacations, and other gifts from Florida ophthalmologist Dr. Salomon Melgen in exchange for acquiring visas for the doctor’s foreign girlfriends.

Investigators also alleged that Menendez received hefty political donations in exchange for helping Melgen secure lucrative government contracts.

Menendez was also previously investigated for corruption by then-New Jersey US Attorney Chris Christie in 2006 over allegations that a nonprofit group rented space from him while he helped it secure grant money. No charges were brought in that case and the investigation was closed in 2011.

The Post reported on Thursday that Menendez’s wife cashed in up to $400,000 worth of gold bars between April 7, 2022, and June 16, 2022 — months before his office publicly acknowledged the current federal investigation — and that the senator has established a legal defense fund in order to help pay for his attorneys.

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 Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife sold $400K in gold bars months before his office admitted he was facing federal probe
By Isabel Vincent    
August 24, 2023

https://nypost.com/2023/08/24/corruption-probe-sen-bob-menendezs-wife-sold-400000-in-gold-bars/

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Sen. Bob Menendez’s new wife cashed in up to $400,000 worth of gold bars — despite having faced foreclosure just three years earlier.

The sale, last spring, was months before his office publicly admitted that the New Jersey Democrat was facing a new federal investigation.

Nadine Arslanian, 56, sold the gold between April 7, 2022, and June 16, 2022, according to the senator’s annual public disclosures. It is equivalent to as much as 13 pounds of pure gold.

The sale was a remarkable financial turnaround for Arslanian, who had reportedly been struggling financially, even facing foreclosure on her home, before she married Menendez in 2020.

Nadine Arslanian and Sen. Bob Menendez at the White HouseSen. Bob Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian arrive at the White House in May for a reception. The couple is under investigation for allegedly receiving luxury gifts

Senator Bob Menendez and Nadine ArslanianNew Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and his new wife, Nadine Arslanian, are the focus of an FBI probe into whether they received gifts.

Senator Bob Menendez, Jonathan Koppell, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nadine Arslanian.Arslanian is now seen regularly with Menendez in New Jersey, including at an event at Montclair State University in April honoring Hillary Clinton.Montclair State University

But the couple now find themselves at the center of an FBI probe, which began within months of their relationship beginning.


Manhattan federal prosecutors want to know if the senator or his wife received unreported luxury gifts, including a car and a Washington apartment, in return for political favors, according to reports.

The investigation is the second time the senator has been probed by federal authorities over allegations of corruption. A long-running New Jersey state investigation ended in 2011 with no charges filed.

Menendez, 69, was indicted in 2015 after prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Unit accused him of accepting lavish bribes from Palm Beach ophthalmologist and political benefactor Dr. Salomon Melgen.
Senator Bob Menendez's financial disclosureSenator Menendez filed his 2022 financial disclosures in June, showing the gold transactions made by his wife.senate.gov gold barsNadine Arslanian cashed in up to $400,000 in gold bars last year.

Among the allegations was that the senator directed members of his staff to obtain visas for Melgen’s girlfriends, who hailed from Brazil, Ukraine and the Dominican Republic.

The bribery case against the Garden State senator, who was first elected in 2006, ended in a mistrial two years later, after the 12-person jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked.

Federal prosecutors withdrew the charges in 2017 before a retrial, after the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of public corruption.

In December of the following year, he met Arslanian in an IHOP in Union City, where he had been mayor, starting a whirlwind romance, the couple told the New York Times’ “Vows” column.

Salomon Melgen wearing dark glasses Salomon Melgen was the donor and friend from whom Menendez was accused of taking lavish gifts, in return for favors that included visas for his girlfriends.

Actress and model Svitlana BuchykMenendez directed six people in his Senate office to obtain visas for the girlfriends of his former benefactor, Salomon Melgen. Among them were Ukrainian actress and model Svitlana Buchyk

They were introduced over pancakes, and, said Arslanian, “He was very intelligent and had a great sense of humor, and he was very, very hot.”

In the next five months, they visited four continents, and in October, she was his partner on a congressional delegation visit to India.

Menendez, a divorcé, orchestrated an elaborate proposal: As Arslanian sat in front of the Taj Mahal, on what he said was the same seat that Princess Diana used when her marriage was on the rocks in 1992, he sang “Never Enough” from the 2017 film “The Greatest Showman,” and dropped to one knee with a ring.

His fiancée, however, was reportedly wrestling with financial problems, the New York Times reported. In 2014, after having trouble paying the $1,897 monthly mortgage on the Bergen County home she now shares with Menendez, she enrolled in a federal program to help her manage her costs, according to the newspaper.

Juliana Lopes Leite Another of the women Menendez was accused of obtaining visas for was Juliana Lopes Leite. He was not convicted; the Justice Department dropped charges before a retrial.

Rosiell PolancoRosiell Polanco was another of the recipients of what the Justice Department said were visas obtained thanks to Menendez using the power of his office.

But by the middle of 2019, she couldn’t make the lower payments and the mortgage company began foreclosure proceedings on her house.

Just as the foreclosure began, Arslanian founded her own consulting business — Strategic International Business Consultants LLC — which is run out of her home address.

The company has no online footprint, and it’s not clear who its clients are. Its incorporation was handled by longtime Menendez friend Donald Scarinci.

The couple married in October 2020 in a small ceremony at the Holy Martyrs Armenian Church in Bayside, Queens. Arslanian is Lebanese-born and of Armenian descent.

Bob Menendez at Swaninarayan Akshardham Hindu temple, DelhiMenendez was on a congressional delegation trip to India, which included a visit to the Swaninarayan Akshardham Hindu temple in New Delhi, when he proposed to Arslanian.

Senator Bob Menendez and Nadine ArslanianMenendez serenaded his then-girlfriend Nadine Arslanian in front of the Taj Mahal when he proposed in 2019. The couple claimed it was on Princess Diana’s bench, although it was actually on a different bench.

She told a podcast in 2020 that she encouraged Menendez to push for the recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide, which the Senate passed in 2019.


Link For The Podcast



As a senator, Menendez is required to declare assets he or his wife own valued at more than $1,000. He does not have to declare their origin.

For the first year of their marriage, he declared that she had checking and savings accounts with a maximum value of $117,000.

It wasn’t until a month before she cashed in the gold — on March 16, 2022 — that Menendez filed an amendment to the 2020 disclosure revealing Arslanian had up to $250,000 in gold bars, Senate filings show

Senator Bob Menendez and Nadine Arslanian Menendez and Nadine Arslanian married in Queens in 2020

And in June this year, he revealed the sales in four separate tranches, adding up to a total value of up to $400,000.

A spokeswoman for Menendez told The Post Thursday that “the senator’s financial disclosure forms were filed in accordance with all deadlines and requirements.” She refused comment on the federal investigation.

Arslanian’s attorney David Schertler did not return an email from The Post seeking comment Wednesday. Schertler’s Washington, DC, firm received $48,000 in a payment for “legal services” from Menendez for Senate in February, according to FEC filings.

Last month, Menendez, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, established the Menendez Legal Defense Fund in order to help pay for his teams of attorneys, The Post can reveal.

Senator Bob Menendez and Nadine Arslanian at eventNadine Arslanian (third from left) cashed in up to $400,000 in gold bullion amid a federal investigation into gifts allegedly received by her and husband Sen. Bob Menendez from a business associate.The Armenian Prelacy

Nadine Arslanian and Bob Menendez in Greece
This summer Menendez and his wife Arslanian have been in the eastern Mediterranean. They were photographed at a restaurant in Athens last week with US Ambassador to Greece George Tsunis.

Between January and April of this year, Menendez for Senate spent nearly $187,000 on “legal services” to firms in Chicago and Washington, DC, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Among the law firms is the Elias Law Group, headed by prominent elections lawyer Marc Elias, a longtime adviser to the Democratic National Committee before they parted ways in April, according to reports.

Menendez’s recent federal financial disclosures show that Arslanian earned income from the company last year.

The senator’s disclosure forms also showed she worked for Fusion Diagnostics Laboratories, a New Jersey medical testing company.

Menendez is scheduled to become an honorary citizen of Paphos, a coastal city in Cyprus, on Friday, in recognition of his support of human rights in the region, according to a statement from the Paphos city council.