From poor house to big house?
Sen. Bob wife cashless & defense-less
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife has confided in friends that she is convinced she will go to prison because she is short of money for legal representation, The Post has learned.
Nadine Arslanian, the Democrat’s second wife, faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted on bribery and corruption charges when she goes on trial in July.
Her attorneys withdrew from her case earlier this month after successfully having her trial put off until July because she has “a serious medical condition” — leaving her currently without a defense team.
Multiple members of her social circle have told The Post that Arslanian, a mother of two from her first marriage, is expecting to be convicted and jailed because of her concern over cash.
Menendez, 70, has a legal defense fund which has already paid for expert witnesses for his case. The fund has covered some of her legal costs but she fears it cannot come close to the final bill.
She will face a jury at federal court in Manhattan after her husband’s separate trial which begins on May 6 — at which his lawyers say he might “inculpate Nadine” if he takes the stand in his own defense, according to a bombshell secret filing unsealed Tuesday.
But the couple remain married and living together in their $1.2 million home in Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
The house is where the FBI found stacks of cash and gold bars when they raided it, leading to Menendez, Arslanian and three New Jersey businessmen being charged with a sprawling scheme to sell his power and secretly conspire to act as agents for the foreign governments of Egypt and Qatar.
The couple is accused of trading political favors for the loot as well as a Mercedes convertible, according to a federal indictment.
Menendez, Arslanian and two of their co-accused, Fred Daibes and Wael Hanna, have denied all charges, although one of the five, Jose Uribe, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
‘Everyone despises him’
One of the circle who has heard Arslanian’s fear is Kim De Paola, former cast member of the “Real Housewives of New Jersey,” who told The Post: “She has said that she thinks she is going to jail.”
De Paola knew Arslanian, 57, from parties and fashion shows for Posche by Kim D, De Paola’s now shuttered Allendale, NJ, boutique. De Paola said that few people from their North Jersey social scene have any sympathy for the couple — or sense of surprise that Menendez would pin the blame on his wife.
“Everyone despises Menendez,” said De Paolo. “And any man who throws his wife under the bus does not deserve any respect.
“In New Jersey, men will stand by their women,” she said. “Like he didn’t know what was going on! To throw a woman under the bus like that is disgusting.”
De Paola, host of the “Get Real with Kim D” podcast, said that Arslanian was always on the lookout for the “next best thing” when it came to her romantic life.
She divorced first husband Raffi Arslanian in 2005 and later dated New Jersey lawyer Douglas Anton, who represented singer R. Kelly at his sex-trafficking trial in 2021.
“When she used to come to my events, she had her boobs hanging to her knees,” she said. “We’d all look at her and say, ‘what in the world?’ She was always trying to be provocative. She is just very trashy. And I think that’s how she got the men.”
De Paola likened Menendez and Arslanian to Depression-era bandits Bonnie and Clyde, noting they are both obsessed with luxurious lifestyles.
“In life when you put out these kinds of things, when you are after the Louis Vuitton bag, things like this happen,” she said. “What do you expect?”
Danny Onorato, a Washington, DC, lawyer who has been representing Arslanian, refused to comment Thursday. Robert Luskin, a lawyer representing Menendez, did not respond to a request for comment.