Judge: Melgen and Menendez could beat corruption charges
WEST PALM BEACH — Predicting Palm Beach County ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez have a good chance of beating corruption charges, a federal magistrate on Tuesday allowed the physician to grab $7.5 million of his dwindling fortune to pay lawyers to defend him in the New Jersey case and on health care fraud charges here.
“Winning t wice against the government is very difficult . But hi s chances of that happening have substantially improved,” U.S. Magistrate James Hopkins said at the conclusion of a two-hour hearing.
As a result of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that restricts the government’s ability to charge elected officials with bribery, Hopkins said Melgen has less incentive to flee to his native Dominican Republic than he did last summer when the physician was forced to sign off on an $18 million bond package to be released from the Palm Beach County Jail.
While federal prosecutors continue to see Melgen as a flight r i sk , Hop- kins said he was comforta b l e a l l owi n g Mel ge n t o reduce the bond package by $ 2 mi l l i o n t o p ay h i s attorneys. The $2 million i s on top of the $5.5 million Melgen had previously been allowed to set aside to pay his legal team.
Assistant U.S. attorneys Roger Stefin and Carolyn Bell objected to Hopkins’ decision. Since Melgen was released last July to await trial on 76 charges for allegedly bilking Medicare out of at least $105 million, his fortune has plummeted, they claim. The reversal, in part, is because he is no longer raking in millions treating patients at eye clinics in West Palm Beach, Welling ton, Delray Beach and Port St. Lucie, they said.
Further, they said, Melgen recently lost a legal battle to recoup $9 million from Medicare. Federal health officials forced Melgen to repay the money, claiming he improperly billed Medicare for separate vials of Lucentis when he used one to treat multiple patients for macular degeneration.
With Melgen’s trial set for Sept. 19, Hopkins gave prosecutors 10 days to persuade him he is wrong about the effect of the Supreme Court decision that overturned the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. But, he warned, the task would be difficult.
“I spent my entire career doing honest services fraud cases,” said Hopkins, a former assistant U.S. attorney. “I have a decent grasp of McDonnell.”
Based on his reading of l a s t month’s unani mous decision by the Supreme Court, he said, “the McDonnell decision provides significant incentive for Dr. Melgen to stick around because there is a substantial chance he won’t face the New Jersey charges.”
Attorneys representing Melgen and the powerful New Jersey Democrat are using that decision to persuade an appeals court to throw out the New Jersey indictment. Menendez and Melgen are charged with operating a mutually beneficial bribery scheme. In return for $750,000 in campaign contributions, hotel stays and other gifts from Melgen, prosecutors claim Menendez intervened with federal agencies on his longtime friend’s behalf.
In McDonnell’s case, the high court narrowed the scope of the law that prohibits public officials from taking gifts in exchange for “official action.” It said it doesn’t cover routine actions like setting up meetings or hosting events for constituents.