The FBI has raided the offices of Dr. Salomon Melgen, an opthalmologist and Democratic Party donor reportedly connected to New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s alleged solicitation of prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.
The Miami Herald reports:
FBI agents raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor accused in the conservative press of providing free trips and even Dominican Republic prostitutes to New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez — who has denied what he calls the “fallacious allegations.”
Agents gathered at the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other prominent politicians, late Tuesday night to start hauling away potential evidence in about a dozen white vans.
The exact focus of the investigation is unclear, as is whether it is tied to Menendez, a Democrat. A spokesman for Menendez couldn’t be reached for comment, nor could Melgen.
Melgen has an outstanding IRS lien of $11.1 million, for taxes owed from 2006 to 2009, according to records filed with the Palm Beach County recorder’s office. A previous IRS lien for $6.2 million was released in 2011.
While reporting for The Daily Caller last year before joining Breitbart News, a current Dominican Republic government official told this reporter that Menendez (pictured, right) used Melgen’s (left) private plane to travel to and from the wealthy eye doctor’s personal villa at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic. While there, the official said they engaged in wild parties full of “sex, hookers and drinking.”
This reporter broke the story while writing for TheDC last year, and interviewed two Dominican Republic women in November who claimed Menendez paid them for sex around Easter-time last year. The encounter apparently took place at Casa de Campo, a posh 7,000-acre resort in the Dominican Republic. Each woman told this reporter that Menendez had agreed to pay them $500 for sex but only paid them $100.
Emails published online last week support this reporter’s original accounts by confirming the existence of an FBI investigation. On August 1, 2012, the FBI had opened an inquiry into Menendez’s alleged prostitution solicitation–mainly because one of the prostitutes Menendez allegedly paid for sex was allegedly underage.
On Monday, Breitbart News’ Kerry Picket pressed Menendez on the issue. Menendez told Picket that he wasn’t “going to dignify that story” when she asked for comment.
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