Menendez's wife loses effort to delay prison for cancer treatment
By: Kristie Cattafi
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... The wife of former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez will report to prison on July 10 [2026] after a judge denied a four-month delay to continue her medical treatment for breast cancer.
..... Judge Sidney Stern denied Nadine Arslanian Menendez's extension after a teleconference call on July 8. [2026] She is ordered to surrender for service of sentence at the institution designated by the Bureau of Prisons before 2 PM. on July 10. [2026]
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She was convicted in federal court in Manhattan as part of a wide-ranging corruption case that prosecutors said featured bribery, extortion and obstruction of justice in a multilevel scheme that involve trading envelopes of cash, gold bars and a new Mercedes-Benz for official acts that benefited Qatar and Egypt.
..... Arslanian Menendez didn't stand trial with the other defendants in the case.
..... Her trial was delayed because she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Initially identified by the court only as a "serious medical condition," the diagnosis was revealed by her husband during his trial.
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Arslanian Menendez was sentenced on September 11, 2025, to more than four years - 54 months - in federal prison for her alleged part in the bilberry and corruption scandal. She was also ordered to forfeit $922,188.
..... The last-minute adjournment request came 90 minutes before the close of business before a three-day federal holiday and "Merely eight days in advance of defendant's scheduled surrender date," Stein wrote to Arslaninan Menendez's attorneys, giving them until July 6 to explain the late request.
..... Court documents last year [2025] from Arslanian Menedez's plastic and reconstructive surgeon said she had suffered complications from her initial breast cancer surgery hat required additions surgery.
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"However, despite multiple surgeries, patine has unrelenting pain severely disrupting her life," wrote the doctor, whose name was redacted in court papers.
..... "This pain is so severe that it prevents her from sleeping."
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The letter said Arsllanian Menendez continued to suffer from other "significant disabling symptoms" related to her cancer surgery.
..... Her attorney wrote to the judge on Monday, [07/06/2026] saying the timing of the request "was not the result of strategic delay or any lack of urgency."
..... Medical-rated delays postponed one of Arslanian Menendez's surgeries until June 10. [2026] "Mrs. Menendez, in consultation with her medical providers, proceeded with only part of the first sugary the removal of her implants, leaving the reconstruction portion of the first surgery, and the final surgery, still ahead," her attorney Edward J. Canter wrote to the judge.
..... The United State's Attorney's Office objected to Memendez's request.
..... "Although the government sympathizes with the defendant's medical situation, as it does with any defendant who has a claimed condition that may require treatment during incarceration, the government objects to an extension of the defendant;s surrender date based on the medical and related information provided by the defendant to date, the court's clear instructions at sentencing, and [Board of Prisons'] ability to render necessary medical care to the defendant," United States Attorney Jay Clayton said.
..... In the state's letter to Stein, it said the federal prison system cares for many inmates "with a variety of medical conditions, including conditions that were being handled by outside medical professionals before the inmate surrendered or conditions that warrant incarceration at a Federal Medical Facility."