Florida

Doctor Tied to Menendez Indicted on Medicare Fraud Charges

The South Florida doctor charged in a corruption case along with New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez has been indicted in a 76-count Medicare fraud scheme.

Miami U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer said Tuesday that 61-year-old Dr. Salomon Melgen was charged with 46 counts of health care fraud as well as additional charges of filing false claims and making false statements.

Melgen is an ophthalmologist with offices in Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties. The indictment charges that he operated the fraud scheme between 2004 and 2013.

Melgen has already pleaded not guilty in a New Jersey corruption case. Melgen is accused of providing nearly $1 million in gifts and campaign donations to Menendez in exchange for political favors. Menendez has also pleaded not guilty.

Melgen attorney Annie Lyons declined comment Tuesday on the Medicare fraud charges.

Melgen graduated from medical school in his native Dominican Republic and has lived in the U.S. since at least 1980, holding posts across the country while building a reputation as a top eye surgeon, records show.

He was licensed in Florida in 1987 and treated "presidents, governors, politicians, celebrities and actors," the website for his four-office practice boasted before being taken down when the initial charges against him were announced earlier this month.

Melgen and Menendez have been friends for decades. The senator has said they celebrated holidays and weddings together, mourned together at funerals and exchanged gifts on birthdays.

The corruption indictment unsealed earlier this month against the men claimed Menendez intervened on his friend's behalf to gain visas for Melgen's foreign girlfriends, press Dominican officials to honor a lucrative port contract for one of the doctor's businesses and influence CMS officials on the billing dispute.

In exchange, authorities say, Melgen showered the senator with flights, vacations and contributions.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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