New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez started taking bribes from his wealthy doctor pal more than a decade ago – when he first got to the Senate – then lied about it to the public, prosecutors allege in new court documents.
The Department of Justice laid out details of its corruption case against the 63-year-old Democrat and friend Salomon Melgen in new court papers ahead of the start of their trial next week.
“The defendants’ bribery scheme began shortly after Menendez’s elevation to the Senate in 2006, when Melgen began a pattern of treating Menendez to weekend and week-long getaways in the Dominican Republic that would continue for the next several years,” prosecutors said in a new 30-page brief.
Menendez faces federal charges for allegedly accepting lavish gifts and trips from Melgen – including access to a private jet — in exchange for using his political power to help advance his friend’s personal and business interests.
“For the first four years of the corruption scheme, the all-expense paid trips Melgen provided often included free roundtrip flights on Melgen’s private jet for Menendez and his various guests,” prosecutors claimed.
They said evidence presented at the estimated two-month trial would prove that “over time, the defendants’ bribery scheme grew in magnitude and breadth.”
Evidence will include testimony from witnesses such as guests and pilots who were present during “the lavish vacations Melgen furnished for Menendez” and public officials who were pressured by the pol to act on Melgen’s behalf.
The jury of six men and six women will also see communications between the two men – including one email in which the senator instructs Melgen in 2010 to use his credit-card points to book a $1,500-a-night room at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Paris, where celebrities like George Clooney and Maria Sharapova have stayed.
Menendez requested a room that had a “king bed, work area with internet, limestone bath with soaking tub and enclosed rain shower, views of courtyard or streets.”
“You call American Express Rewards and they will book it for you,” he wrote. “It would need to be in my name.”
“Menendez enjoyed these flights and vacations free of charge,” prosecutors alleged. “But, in a scheme to hide the trips from public view and keep the corrupt pact secret, Menendez mentioned nothing of the gifts on his annual financial disclosure forms.”
When Melgen’s private jet wasn’t available, he would find other ways to ensure Menendez was traveling in style.
“Melgen once secured the private jet of a business associate to fly Menendez, himself, and others one-way from the Dominican Republic to Fort Lauderdale at a cost of $20,000,” prosecutors said. “On another occasion, he purchased a first-class ticket for Menendez to fly from New Jersey to West Palm Beach and an $8,000 chartered jet for his return.”
Menendez is accused of repaying his pal “using the currency of his Senate office to take official action to benefit the South Florida doctor” – including helping Melgen’s foreign girlfriends secure visas, according to prosecutors.
The senator is also charged with using his political muscle to help Melgen resolve a multimillion-dollar dispute with Medicare, as well as in a separate Melgen-involved contract deal for a port in the Dominican Republic.
In 2013, after news broke of Menendez’s private-jet trips, the pol issued a statement saying his use of the plane was “paid for and reported appropriately” and said he gave Melgen $58,500 to cover the costs.
But prosecutors called those claims a bald-faced lie.
“What both defendants’ false public statements sought to hide was that the $58,500 check did not cover all of the private flights that Menendez accepted from Melgen — it covered just the two personal trips that the defendants believed the public knew or would find out about,” prosecutors said.
Menendez and Melgen have denied any wrongdoing.
In a letter to New Jersey federal Judge William Walls Wednesday, lawyers for both men blasted the DOJ’s new court papers as “designed solely to generate adverse pretrial publicity for the defendants, giving the media a rhetorically florid preview of the prosecutors’ opening argument.”
Defense also noted the “gratuitous” brief may cause problems in replacing a juror who was excused last week for financial hardship.