Menendez's Wife's Fatal Crash Now Being Probed By NJ Officials: Report

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — A 2018 crash in which Sen. Bob Menendez's wife struck and killed a Bergen County dad with her Mercedes is now being investigated by New Jersey officials, NBC reported on Friday.

News reports this week revealed new details in the little-reported December 2018 crash, in which Menendez's then-girlfriend, Nadine Arslanian, hit a man who was crossing a Bergen County street after getting out of an Uber near his home.

Arslanian was given a replacement Mercedes financed by a businessman — a Mercedes that was ultimately named in the Sept. 22, 2023 bribery indictment of both Menendezes.

But it's not the gift that has raised new questions this week.

The crash victim's family and others are asking whether Arslanian was let off easy after the fatal crash, especially since video shows a "buddy" of the senator, who identifies himself as a retired Hackensack police officer, coming to the scene in Bogota, NJ to ask questions on Arslanian's behalf.

In the video, Arslanian tells Bogota police that the deceased man "jumped on my windshield."

She was not drug or alcohol tested, the New York Times reported, but police investigated to find out where crash victim Richard Koop had been that night.

The family of Koop — who was a beloved dad and uncle, according to his obituary — told the New York Times that they were suspicious of the "one-sided" investigation of the crash that followed.

NBC reported that on Thursday, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office of Public Integrity & Accountability visited the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office to ask questions.

A spokesperson for the office said Friday, "The office does not confirm or deny investigations."

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office did not respond when asked for comment by Patch.

'My buddy's wife'

In video posted with enhanced audio this week by the New Jersey Herald, Arslanian is heard telling police officers in Bogota, "He jumped on my windshield," and repeatedly saying she needs to speak with an attorney.

A man identifying himself as a retired Hackensack police officer comes on the scene and tells a police officer that Arslanian is "My buddy's wife." (Arslanian actually married Menendez in October 2020, the indictment states.)

The retired officer asks whether the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office will be involved.

The Bogota officer rassures him that police are investigating because of the nature of what happened, not necessarily because Arslanian is in trouble.

The Times story identifies the "buddy" as Menendez.

In 2019, according to the Sept. 22 indictment, businessman Jose Uribe — whom Arslanian had introduced to Menendez at one point, and who has been indicted along with the couple — agreed to finance s new car for Arslanian if the senator did him a favor.

According to the indictment, the senator intervened to try to have a New Jersey-based insurance fraud investigation of Uribe's employee resolved favorably.

Months later, Arslanian received her replacement Mercedes.

The indictment notes that during a search of the couple's home, "The FBI found many of the fruits of this bribery scheme, including cash, gold, the luxury convertible, and home furnishings. Over $480,000 in cash — much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe."

The indictment says, "In exchange for Menendez’s actions, Uribe provided Nadine Menendez with $15,000 cash for the down payment on the luxury convertible in April 2019. After the purchase was complete, Nadine Menendez messaged Menendez, 'Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes.❤️' and texted Menendez [a] photograph of the
convertible. Thereafter, Uribe made monthly payments to Mercedes-Benz for the convertible between 2019 and June 2022."

Uribe stopped making payments after the FBI began investigating and asking questions, the indictment says.

Read prior reporting here.