ENCORE: Bob Menendez: Bad Romance Part 1 | 185
Scamfluencers
Wondery
4.1 • 7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
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Summary
We’ll be back in two weeks with all-new Scamfluencers episodes. In the meantime, we’re revisiting a political scandal that’s been back in the headlines recently – and we’ve added some updates since this story first aired.
Bob Menendez rode an anti-corruption reputation to the highest levels of the New Jersey political machine. But as he ascends to the U.S. Senate, he realizes he can raise money the good old-fashioned way: through bribes. By the time he meets his one true love, Nadine Arslanian, Bob is no stranger to corruption, and as a senior member of the senate, he’s more than happy to use his influence to make his new girlfriend happy.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Scamphillencers listeners. If you're as hooked on these jaw-dropping schemes as we are, |
| 0:04.7 | you'll love Wondry Plus. Think of it as you're all access past the world of scams. |
| 0:09.4 | Add-free episodes, early access, and exclusive deep dives that uncover even more shocking |
| 0:14.6 | details. Don't just listen. Emmerse yourself in the chaos with Wondry Plus. |
| 0:19.6 | We'll be back in two weeks with all new episodes |
| 0:21.9 | of scam influencers. But first, we wanted to revisit a political scandal that's been back in the |
| 0:26.7 | headlines recently. Yes, we are talking about Senator Bob Menendez, aka Gold Bar Bob. When we first |
| 0:33.7 | covered him, he was under indictment for allegedly taking bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes-Benz. |
| 0:40.7 | He was convicted last year on 16 counts, including bribery, obstruction of justice, and acting as a foreign agent. |
| 0:47.5 | And in January, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. |
| 0:50.6 | As of this summer, he's officially behind bars. |
| 0:53.6 | He reported to prison on June 17th, |
| 0:55.8 | but that's not all. In September, his wife, Nadine Menendez, was also convicted in the same |
| 1:01.8 | bribery scheme. She was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, along with three years |
| 1:06.9 | of supervised release. At her sentencing, she called herself a puppet and said that her husband |
| 1:12.6 | was, quote, not the man I thought he was. Oh, Sarah, they never are, are they? They never are. And another |
| 1:20.5 | detail, Bob tried to make amends before Nadine's sentencing by submitting a letter to the judge |
| 1:25.9 | stating he regrets that his attorneys tried to place the blame on her. He wrote, to suggest that Nadine's sentencing by submitting a letter to the judge stating he regrets that his attorneys |
| 1:27.8 | tried to place the blame on her. He wrote, to suggest that Nadine was money hungry or in financial |
| 1:33.1 | need and therefore would solicit others for help is simply wrong. I mean, nice try, I guess. Too |
| 1:40.8 | little too late in my opinion. Well, they'll have plenty of time to work it out or not while they complete their sentences. |
| 1:47.7 | In the meantime, this feels like the perfect moment to revisit this love story gone wrong |
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