Menendez, a Democrat and former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, faces allegations of using his government position to push the business interests of his political donors. The focus of these charges will be the senator's relationship with Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, who has been a major donor to Menendez’s political campaigns.
A joint investigation by the FBI and DOJ looked into a series of flights which the senator took to the Dominican Republic in 2010. These trips were taken at Melgen’s expense. Once these flights became public knowledge, Menendez spent nearly $60,000 to reimburse his donor.
During these trips, Menendez may have also solicited prostitution, though investigators later dropped these allegations. A similarly abandoned line of inquiry was that the senator illegally helped two Ecuadorian bankers gain US residency.
Prosecutors are also examining the possibility that Menendez may have manipulated the US Customs and Border Protection agency to favor one of Melgen’s business ventures. Melgen’s company had a contract to provide port screening equipment to the Dominican Republic, which was threatened by a plan by Customs and Border to donate that same gear.
Claiming his decision was based on fighting drug trafficking, Menendez said, “If those countries can get away with that, they will. And that puts American companies at a tremendous disadvantage.” He gave no indication that the “companies” he was referring to were owned by a political donor.
Melgen was also one of the main recipients of Medicare reimbursements, something Menendez used his position to advocate for. A federal audit showed that Melgen had overbilled the government by $8.9 million for both Medicare and Medicaid payments.
Senator Menendez has denied any wrongdoing, and has called the investigation a “smear campaign.”
"I have always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with the law," he said Friday. "I am not going anywhere."
“We believe all of the Senator's actions have been appropriate and lawful and the facts will ultimately confirm that,” Menendez’s press secretary Tricia Enright stated in a press release.
Menendez’s office added that the investigation itself is “suspect,” and referred to previous allegations of corruption made against Menendez which were eventually dropped.
Federal prosecutors want to use Menendez’s own aides as case witnesses, but court battles have already called the legality of those testimonies into question.
“These communications are not manifestly legislative acts because they are informal communications with executive branch officials,” the appeals court stated in their decision to keep several of Menendez’s conversations from being used as evidence at trial.
Prosecutors also plan to bring Menendez’s email exchanges before the court.
