After a three-year corruption investigation, a US grand jury indicted New Jersey senator Robert (Bob) Menendez on charges of corruption, bribery and conspiracy on Wednesday, 1 April 2015. He is accused of accepting nearly US$1 million in gifts and campaign contributions between January 2006 and January 2013 from Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, who also was indicted. The payments were allegedly in exchange for Menendez using his Senate office to benefit Melgen’s business operations and to support visa applications for several of Melgen’s girlfriends.
Covering the indictment, the Atlantic Journal speculates on whether the facts presented might not be enough to prosecute Menendez, and it could just be “politics as usual.”
Following the indictment Menendez announced he would temporarily relinquish his position as the top Democrat on the powerful US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Menendez has maintained positions contrary to US President Barack Obama on many key issues, including relations with Cuba, Iran, Israel and others.
The indictment primarily accuses the New Jersey Democrat of accepting luxury vacations, airline travel, golf trips and tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to a legal defense fund from eye doctor Salomon Melgen.
In exchange for those and other gifts, prosecutors allege, Menendez sought to smooth approval of the visa application process for several of Melgen’s foreign girlfriends, intervened in a Medicare billing dispute on the doctor’s behalf worth millions of dollars.
Menendez is accused of using his influence to stop the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from donating the shipping container monitoring and surveillance equipment to the DR. The donation threatened Melgen’s multi-million dollar foreign contract to provide exclusive cargo screening services in Dominican ports.
Dated in or about 2006, the file indicates that Melgen purchased an option to buy a 50% share of a company called ICSSI, S.A., which he exercised in or around 2011. ICSSI was a company that had entered into a contract with the DR on or around 18 July 2002. Under the contract, the ICSSI acquired the exclusive rights to install and operate X-ray imaging equipment in Dominican ports for up to 20 years. The contract required all shipping containers entering Dominican ports to be X-rayed for a fee of up to US$90 per container, which made this contract potentially worth many millions of dollars. According to the file, soon after the contract was executed, ICSSI and the Dominican Republic began litigating its legitimacy and legality.
As explained in the file, in or about 2011, Melgen established a US company, Border Support Services LLC as a holding company for the contract.
In or about February 2012, Melgen acquired the remaining 50% of ICSSI.
Menendez is one of three Latinos in the US Senate and the only one who is a Democrat.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/robert-menendez-is-indicted-for-corruption/389366/
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-four-women-in-the-indictment-against-sen-menendez/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/things-to-know-about-indictment-against-sen-menendez/2015/04/01/fd118180-d8cb-11e4-bf0b-f648b95a6488_story.html
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/menendez-n334241