Tag: corruption trial

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Menendez Pal tried to Intimidate Government Officials with Political Connections According to Testimony 

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September 26,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, in explosive testimony in the Senator Menendez Corruption trial , wealthy eye-doctor pal of Sen. Robert Menendez threatened to “make trouble” for the US Commerce Department through his “politically influential friends” if he did not get help with a troubled business project, it emerged at his bribery trial on Monday.

According to Commerce staffer Sam Smith a witness in the trial  Dr. Salomon Melgen who is on trial for bribery alongside Menendez in Newark federal court made the threatening comments through a lawyer at a 2012 meeting. The lawyer set up the meeting to pressure Commerce Dept. officials to help Melgen with a costly contract dispute, Smith said.

“He was very aggressive and threatening and constantly brought up the fact that he could make trouble for the department and he could be a bull in the Commerce Dept.’s china shop,” Smith told jurors about the meeting with Melgen’s lawyer, Elio Muller.

“He stated that Dr. Melgen had politically influential friends and they could cause a lot of problems for Commerce Dept. if Dr. Melgen didn’t think he was being served well,” Smith added.

When asked who Muller was referring to when he spoke of Melgen’s “politically influential friends,” Smith didn’t hesitate to say Menendez, a senior Democratic senator from NJ who stands accused of accepting bribes from Melgen in exchange for official favors.

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Corruption Trial Witness Say Democrat Senator Menendez Lived large Dominican Republic

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September 19,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, according to a resort executive Andres Pichardo Rosenberg , Democrat Senator Menendez’s stays at the luxurious Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic gave him access to white-sand beaches, a marina filled with expensive yachts and five golf courses. The seven-acre gated community on the Caribbean also boasts the top-rated golf course in the Dominican Republic, six international restaurants, a security staff of 800, and access to elite sports like pheasant shooting. Pheasant shooting in Dominican Republic you ask, yes according to testimony eggs are imported and the birds are bred for sport .

Opthalmologist , Dr. Salomon Melgen, who owns a home that the Senator stayed in Casa de Campo. has denied that the home was a bribe, describing it as a modest getaway for the doctor and his close friends and family. Rosenberg  stated that there are 1,850 private houses on the resort some costing over $10 million. Rosenberg estimated that homes in Melgen’s neighborhood are worth up to $2.5 million.

NJ Senator Menendez, 63, is accused of accepting lavish gifts from Melgen, including stays at the villa and flights on private jets, in exchange for helping the married eye doctor obtaining visas for his three foreign girlfriends and straightening out an $8.9 million tab for overbilling Medicare.

Recent testimony suggests that Menendez lived the life in Dominican Republic  , also staying at the exclusive $765 per night Tortuga Bay Hotel and Punta Cana Resort & Club where Melgen shelled out another $766 for other amenities, including golf, bars and restaurants. Mind you this Dominican Republic where the GDP per Capita $6,733 per year

Melgen also footed the bill of $875 per hour for an 8 hour pick up in a chauffeured car for Menendez in Hoboken ,credit car receipts confirm that Menendez was brought to an upscale Chinese restaurant where Melgen was waiting for both him and the vehicle.

Testimony also revealed that Immediately after the FBI raided Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen’s West Palm Beach offices, Melgen’s son-in-law contacted the Federal Aviation Administration to block the public from tracking his private jet. Melgen’s private jet had been used several times to fly Menendez between New Jersey and Melgen’s vacation home in the Dominican Republic ,these flights prosecutors charge were bribes Melgen paid Menendez in exchange for official favors.

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Prosecutor Tells Senator Menendez he is not above the law

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August 26,2017

the staff of the Ridgewood bog

Ridgewood NJ, Democrat Senator Bob Menendez is about to go on trial for corruption in New Jersey and a federal judge has ordered that the Senator physically remain in the court room throughout the entire process.

Senator Menendez countered by filing a request to the court asking if he could leave for votes in the Senate. Federal prosecutors filed a scathing opposition to the request and reminded him he isn’t above the law simply because he is a U.S. Senator.

“After being indicted twice for depriving the people who elected him of their right to his honest services, defendant Robert Menendez now demands that this Court disrupt his criminal trial so that he can perform his duties as a United States Senator. Defendant Menendez was indicted in 2015 and 2016 for bribery, conspiracy, honest services fraud, false statements, and violating the Travel Act. Those indictments allege a seven-year bribery conspiracy in which he traded the power of his public office for a lavish lifestyle that included private jet rides and vacations in Paris and the Caribbean,”

They continued , “The only reason defendant Menendez’s trial is scheduled for September 2017, almost two-and-a-half years after he was first indicted by a grand jury, is because he has spent that time  pursuing a meritless argument that the Constitution immunizes him from prosecution—an argument that has been rejected by every judge to have considered it. Now he seeks to use his status as a United States Senator to pick and choose the dates on which his criminal trial will be conducted.”

Adding , “the Arrest Clause does not exalt Members of Congress to a status above the law:It is, therefore, sufficiently plain that the constitutional freedom from arrest does not exempt Members of Congress from the operation of the ordinary criminal laws,even though imprisonment may prevent or interfere with the performance of their duties as Members.”

Ending with ,”This is not the first time defendant Menendez has sought special treatment from this Court. At defendant Menendez’s very first appearance, he asked to be exempted from the routine requirement that defendants surrender their personal passports because of his status as a United States Senator,” the response continues. “This case began with defendant Menendez being treated like any other defendant, and it should end that way….only a United States Senator can try to hide behind the very office he corrupted to avoid accountability to the public for his actions.”

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Menendez trial brings high stakes for N.J. and Democratic fight against Trump

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Updated: AUGUST 18, 2017 — 10:09 AM EDT

by Jonathan Tamari, Washington Bureau  @JonathanTamari |  jtamari@phillynews.com

WASHINGTON — The stakes for Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption case have grown to national proportions.

More than two years since the Democrat was charged with allegedly trading influence for lavish gifts, his trial begins Tuesday in Newark, N.J. — with major implications for both a four-decade fixture in Garden State politics and the Democratic fight against President Trump’s agenda.

Menendez has vowed he will be vindicated at trial.

But if he is convicted and forced from office, the result could tilt Washington’s political balance by allowing Republicans to claim one more Senate seat as they push to rewrite the tax code and perhaps make another run at health care reform. That’s because Gov. Christie, in his final weeks in office, would have a chance to appoint Menendez’s replacement — almost certainly filling the reliably blue seat with a fellow Republican, at least temporarily.

The significance of that potential shift was illustrated in July, when the GOP’s health-care overhaul was blocked by a single vote.

“It potentially has enormous implications for the entire legislative agenda,” said Phil Kerpen, the head of the conservative lobbying group American Commitment.

https://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/bob-menendez-corruption-trial-brings-high-stakes-for-n-j-and-democratic-fight-against-trump-20170818.html

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Corruption trial could roil NJ Senate race

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BY LISA HAGEN – 03/25/17 01:18 PM EDT

Sen. Robert Menendez ongoing corruption case could upend the New Jersey Democrat’s reelection bid in 2018, with the longtime politician scheduled to go to court this fall.

The Supreme Court delivered another blow this week to the embattled senator when it refused to dismiss the case. The trial is scheduled to begin about a year before the midterm elections.

Federal prosecutors charged Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty, in April 2015 on 14 criminal counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery.

Menendez is expected to head to trial on Sept. 6,facing a potential criminal conviction even as he would normally be preparing a re-election bid.

“It makes it very difficult to campaign if you’re on trial,” said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/325733-corruption-case-could-roil-nj-senate-race

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Menendez lawyers accuse Justice Department of misconduct

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Lawyers for Sen. Robert Menendez accused federal prosecutors and FBI agents Monday of lying to win a corruption indictment against him this spring, saying the Justice Department would “stop at nothing” to try to convict the powerful lawmaker. The allegations are included in more than 400 pages of legal arguments filed to try to persuade the court to dismiss the case against Menendez (D-N.J.) and a longtime friend and donor, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, who is accused of buying favors from the senator with gifts and vacations. The joint filings by lawyers for the two men demonstrate the aggressive legal strategy that Menendez, 61, has adopted as he readies for the fight of his life to save an enduring career that helped him rise from a childhood in a tenement apartment as a son of Cuban immigrants to become one of the country’s most influential senators. By Carol D. Leonnig/WaPo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/menendez-lawyers-accuse-justice-department-of-misconduct/2015/07/20/c07beb6e-2f0d-11e5-8f36-18d1d501920d_story.html