Judge denies sentencing delay for ex-Sen. Bob Menendez but puts his wife’s trial off until February

Former New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez will be sentenced on corruption charges as scheduled at the end of January, and his wife’s trial will be moved from January to February, a judge said Monday.

U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein in Manhattan rejected Menendez’s request to delay his sentencing for his conviction on bribery and other charges until his wife finishes her trial on similar charges, possibly sometime in March.

The Democrat’s lawyers last week requested a new sentencing date on the grounds that the jury chosen to hear the case against his wife, Nadine Menendez, would be tainted if jurors heard about the outcome of the former senator’s sentencing during the trial.

Menendez, 70, was convicted in July of 16 corruption charges brought by prosecutors who asserted that he used his power in the Senate over a five-year stretch through 2022 to do favors that benefitted three New Jersey businessmen who paid him with gold bars, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and a Mercedes-Benz convertible.

Two of the businessmen were convicted along with Menendez while a third pleaded guilty, cooperated with the government, and testified against him.

Nadine Menendez has pleaded not guilty to charges. Originally set to stand trial with her husband, her trial was put off after a breast cancer diagnosis led to surgery. Stein moved her Jan. 21 trial on Monday to Feb. 5. Her husband, as scheduled, will be sentenced on Jan. 29.