Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez accused of affairs with prostitutes

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has raided the office of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a South Florida doctor and a campaign contributor to Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

The raid of Dr. Melgen’s office started yesterday, Jan. 29, 2013 and continued today. The allegations against Menendez are that the doctor may have provided Menendez with free trips to the Dominican Republic, as well as prostitutes while he was there.

Sen. Menendez is denying any allegations of wrongdoing after FBI agents raided the business of Dr. Salomon who is also a close “friend”.

“Dr. Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Senator Menendez for many years,” Menendez’s office said in a statement. “Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr. Melgen’s plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately. Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated right-wing blog and are false.”

According to OpenSecrets.org data, Melgen and his family members have given more than $426,000 in campaign donations since 1992, a huge portion of which went to Menendez or organizations with which he's affiliated. Combined, the family gave $33,700 to Menendez, but another $60,400 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, an organization that Menendez chaired from 2009 to 2011. The family also gave $50,000 to the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.

The FBI agents were joined by an inspector from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today, indicating the search-and-seizure raid may also be tied to Medicare fraud by Dr. Melgen.

Don't miss any of the Las Vegas Democrat Examiner articles: Click the Subscribe button and enter your E-mail address. You’ll be alerted to the latest column when it's published. You can also click the E-mail button so you can send your favorite article to a friend. You can also follow on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.