the wife of disgraced former Senator Bob Mendez has been found guilty on 15 public corruption charges a conviction that closely mirrors her husband's A Manhattan jury on Monday handed down the verdict for Naen Mendez's role in the couple's yearslong bribery scheme where they traded the once highranking senator's political influence for gold cash and a Mercedes convertible As senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports Naen echoed her husband's criticism following the verdict calling the case political Uh I'll speak for myself I'm devastated by the verdict Um we fought hard Naen Mendez stood beside her defense attorney after a Manhattan jury convicted her on all 15 counts of bribery fraud conspiracy and corruption for taking gold bars bags of cash a MercedesBenz and more in return for brazenly selling the political influence of her husband disgraced former Senator Bob Mendez A slam dunk case agreed one former federal prosecutor The government outlined evidence that I thought was damning and overwhelming and especially for Naen right i mean cuz she was kind of on the tip of the spear Really the the facilitator Prosecutors call Naen the gobetween who got her hands very dirty Reams of evidence included serial numbers on gold bars and $100 bills texts emails and photos of the Menendezes dining lavishly with co-conspirators Three New Jersey businessmen and foreign officials who bought the senator's cooperation to kill criminal cases in New Jersey boost US military aid to Egypt and curry favor with cutter So these things when you take them together I felt like this was a an open andsh shut corruption and graph case and and it turned out that that was the case Following their initial indictment Bob and Naen Mendez would arrive at court together as co-defendants but he was tried and convicted separately after treatment for breast cancer postponed Naen's day in court Her husband never showed up at his wife's trial asked why not Her lawyer answered "No comment."

Naen Mendez said nothing at the mic but later released a statement saying "This was an unjust political prosecution I was never going to get a fair trial because of the notoriety of my husband's trial."

President Trump's right about the weaponization of the Southern District of New York and the Justice Department I'm innocent and look forward to a successful appeal that echoes her husband's angry accusations and shout outs to Donald Trump after Judge Sydney Stein sentenced the former senator to 11 years in prison Welcome to the Southern District of New York the wild west of political prosecutions President Trump is right This process is political and it's corrupted to the core I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system Southern District of New York In a statement noted "Together Naen Mendez and the senator placed their own interests and greed ahead of the interests of the citizens the senator was elected to serve."

Today's verdict sends the clear message that the power of government officials may not be put up for sale Trump's Department of Justice did drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams but that case had not yet gone to trial But with the White House so focused on immigration enforcement Doge disputes and tariff crises what are the chances Donald Trump would help Bob and Naen Mendez longtime veterans of Hudson County politics weighed in look it's a hailberry in the fourth quarter when you're down three four touchdowns I mean obviously you don't have any other options right i mean appeal's not going to go anywhere You know the evidence is quite voluminous Well I mean unfortunately it's become invogue now to attack uh the prosecutor's office and the judicial system That seems to be you know alam mode these days And uh it's really tragic The senator's former political staffer would like to see what he calls an American tragedy end in a redemptive arc Can that happen we'll see you know uh if Mendez Bob that is and Nadine can surprise us with something uh positive you know after this is all settled What's next bob Mendez reports for prison June 6th His wife is scheduled to be sentenced June 12th I'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight News