APRIL 1, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC (AP)
Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted on corruption charges
Wednesday, accused of using his office to improperly benefit a Florida eye
doctor and political donor.
The indictment charged the New Jersey Democrat with 14
counts, including bribery and conspiracy, over his ties to Dr. Salomon Melgen,
a wealthy doctor and the politician's longtime friend.
Melgen also was charged in the case.
The indictment from a grand jury in New Jersey was the
latest development in a federal investigation that came into public view when
federal authorities raided Melgen's medical offices two years ago. The
investigation focused on whether the senator had improperly advocated on
Melgen's behalf, including by intervening in a Medicare billing dispute.
Menendez has acknowledged that he flew multiple times on
Melgen's private jet to the Dominican Republic and initially failed to properly
pay for the trips. Menendez in 2013 agreed to reimburse Melgen $58,500 for the
full cost of two flights.
The senator's office later disclosed another flight, from
Florida to New Jersey in 2011, and said Menendez had repaid Melgen $11,250 for
it.
Last year, Menendez disclosed that his campaign accounts had
paid a law firm $250,000 for legal costs related to investigations by the
Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee of his ties to Melgen.
Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, has acknowledged taking actions that could benefit Melgen, among
them contacting U.S. health agencies to ask about billing practices and
policies.
But the lawmaker has said he did nothing wrong and that he
and Melgen have been friends for decades.
"We celebrated holidays together," he once told
reporters. "We have been there for family weddings and sad times like
funerals and have given each other birthday, holiday and wedding presents, just
as friends do."
Melgen came under renewed scrutiny when government data last
year showed he had received more in Medicare reimbursements in 2012 than any
other doctor in the country.
Menendez becomes the first sitting U.S. senator to face
indictment since then-Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, in 2008. Stevens was found
guilty of concealing gifts from donors on financial disclosure statements, but
the Justice Department later dropped the case after admitting that prosecutors
failed to turn over evidence that would have been favorable to his defense.
Menedez joined the Senate in 2006 after serving more than a
decade in the House of Representatives.
A lawyer and former mayor of Union City, New Jersey,
Menendez also served in the New Jersey General Assembly and state Senate.
Even while under federal investigation, he has used his
leadership position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to criticize
negotiations between President Barack Obama's administration and Iran on its
nuclear program and has been outspoken in opposition to normalizing relations
with Cuba.