Posted on 01/30/2013 11:26:41 AM PST by MissesBush
FBI agents late Tuesday night raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor suspected of providing free trips and even underage Dominican Republic prostitutes to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. — 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, to start hauling away potential evidence in several vans. The investigation is believed to be focusing on Melgen’s finances and the allegations about Menendez’s trips and contact with prostitutes. A spokesman for Menendez could not 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. Despite those financial problems, Melgen and his family have contributed at least $357,000 to candidates and committees since 1998, according to Florida and federal campaign records. Of that, the Melgens have contributed about 9 percent to Menendez’s federal campaigns. Melgen also owns a private CL-600 Challenger plane through one of his West Palm Beach-based companies, and frequently flies between South Florida and Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, where he is from. Menendez has flown on the plane at least once, his office has said, when he was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2009 to 2011, when the Melgens contributed about $60,400 to the group. A spokeswoman had previously said that Menendez and Melgen are longtime friends and said the senator did nothing improper. Melgen was first linked to Menendez just before the November elections, when the conservative Daily Caller website interviewed two alleged prostitutes who said they had relations with the New Jersey Democrat at Melgen’s Dominican Republic mansion in Casa de Campo. After the election, the news died down. But then, days before Menendez was about to start leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as chairman, reporters started receiving a 58-page dossier of emails between a Miami FBI agent and a tipster who claimed that some of the prostitutes had been underage. “I’m not going to respond to the fallacious allegations of your story,” Menendez told the Daily Caller on Monday when a reporter caught up with him on a train in Washington. At the time, Menendez had just stepped into the national spotlight along with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and six other senators who are hammering out a highly watched immigration plan that is the talk of Washington. Rubio is one of the few big-name Florida politicians who has not received campaign money from the Melgens, who have contributed to Sen. Bill Nelson and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Joe Garcia, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, among others. The FBI would not comment on the emails, and the agent, Regino Chavez, did not return calls or emails. But sources familiar with the investigation told The Miami Herald that the emails are real. The emails from agent Chavez show that he tried to find out what happened. But the tipster, who went by the name “Peter Williams,” refused to talk to him by telephone or meet him face to face. Chavez contacted the tipster Aug.1, 2012, after the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington referred the case to the FBI. The tipster would not meet or speak by phone to CREW or to an investigative reporter, either. “As far as the information you have provided, we have been able to confirm most of it,” Chavez wrote on Sept. 12. “We know that you are providing accurate information.” But it is not clear what that specific information is because Chavez was unable to interview the alleged prostitutes. Over the months, Chavez tried to meet or speak with the tipster, but had no luck. Then, on Nov. 1, the agent wrote the tipster again and drew attention to the Daily Caller interview with the alleged prostitutes. “I think we are at the point where you and I need to communicate over the phone so that we can move faster,” he wrote. No luck. Amid the suspicious circumstances of the complaints, Democrats have tried to characterize the reports about Menendez and Melgen as a right-wing smear job. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid refused to comment on the possibility of an FBI investigation when he was asked Tuesday about the case. Said Reid: “Always consider the source. All anyone here has to look at is the source where this comes from.” Tuesday night’s raid, however, shows that there is at least an investigation tied to Menendez’s longtime friend and ally. Miami Herald Staff Writer Luisa Yanez contributed to this report.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/29/3207543/fbi-raids-west-palm-beach-office.html#storylink=cpy
W.Palm is the bottom of the scum barrel for your everyday registered Democrat........
Menendez is a creep and the feds are closing in on him. I am really looking forward to watching him do the “perp walk”.
Don’t worry, Eric Holder will come swooping in to Menedez’s rescue any day and squash the entire investigation.
Yeah. You’re probably right. DemocRAT public servants have fixed it so that they are above the law.
Will he be bringing paragraph breaks?
I wonder what kind of deal the RATs are cooking up with Christy Creme to make sure he appoints another RAT when Menendez is forced to resign....
How young were Menendez's sex partners? Prolly whitewashing the prostie case---trying to get Menendez out from under charges of pedophilia.
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BACKTORY In December 2012, the AP reported Menendez had an illegal Peruvian immigrant---- Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, Newark. NJ----a registered sex offender---- working as a volunteer in his office.
AP reported that Homeland Security told federal agents not to arrest the illegal until after Election Day b/c Menendez was running for reelection and there would be intense media and voter interest in the sexual predator story.
SURPRISE The Obama administration denied the AP report but it later turned out the government was lying, the AP was right. Menendez is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Law-abiding Americans must demand answers to these penetrating questions.
(1) Why are illegals/lawbreakers like this predator being given the protection of: (a) the federal govt, (b) the Obama Admin, (c) the DOJ, (d) the US Congress, (e) other govt officials/workers/agencies and institutions?
(2) Are Obama and the Congress acting on orders from foreign governments?
(3) Why was an illegal lawbreaker (a registered sex offender) given a job in US Senator Menendez's office ---- and is now being offered more protections and rights than law-abiding Americans?
(4) What are the penalties imposed on US and state govt officials for using tax-paid govt offices, govt resources, and govt authority, to aid and abet wrongdoing---and why are they not being mobilized?
MENENDEZ'S UTTER CONTEMPT FOR AMERICA AND THE RULE OF LAW IS AN OUTRAGE---When caught w/ an illegal registered sex offender employed in his Senate office---Menendez obfuscated----and whined: "It speaks volumes about the need for immigration reform."
So we can conclude the Peruvian illegal--- Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, Newark, NJ--- told the whining Menendez, "Heck. they won't make me a citizen so I'll go out and sexually abuse somebody. "
Oh goody----Senor Menendez, the predator's mentor, will make sure sexual predators are included in "comprehensive immigration reform."
Well... no wonder Menendez is pushing so hard for amnesty for illegals. He’s trying to get his underage squeeze in the clear. Ah, but that “underage” thing...
Menendez would be in some real trouble if here a Repub. Since he’s a dem, he’ll be rewarded with stratospheric approval ratings, juicy Senate assignments and guaranteed reelection for the rest of his life.
If it’s anything like the FBI raid on Solyndra, they’re gathering boxes of incriminating evidence so they can shred it.
I don't think so.
In point of fact, there's a zillion ways Menendez could have facilitated this scam sub rosa---- b/c he certainly did not want it known he was being airlfited offshore to diddle little girls. He HAD to preserve his carefully cultivated image as a "tolerant and compassionate" progressive---concerned only with "helping his fellow man" (sob).
THE BIG CLUE Menendez assumes the position of "victim"---blaming the right-wing for his troubles----the typical "Victimization Act" when a pol is caught with his pants down.
Probably Menendez can't come up with proof of the actual payments b/c the money was laundered via earmarks, lobbying fees, non-profits. Or perhaps, Menendez sponsored a bill to provide financial aid for the "poor children" of the Dominican Republic?
ROTFL.
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Menendez's campaign donor/crony providing Menendez with sex partners is no big deal.It's very common in DC---as a quid pro quo---to provide hook-ups for Official Washington. Obviously a legislator can't go bar-hopping for sex---especially if, like Menendez, he has a live-in, and, especially, if, like Menendez, he likes 'em real young. The question is what was the quid pro quo Menendez provided for sex favors?
Monica Lewinsky traded BJ's for Clinton for a cushy job.
All the folderol Menendez's is mfg, about this being a right-wing smear, is a wonky distraction.
Sen Menendez is clearly taking full advantage of the fact that the FBI cannot reveal the scope of its investigations. All we know is "there appears to be law enforcement in the area of" Melgen’s office in West Palm Beach, Fla. The Miami Herald reported "the FBI investigation is believed" to be focusing on Melgen’s finances.
The FBI "might" be looking at Sen Menendez's finances, as well. 2012 candidate Menendez made a big show of supposedly revealing his tax records. Now the FBI and IRS might be scrutinizing the tax bite, income, and holdings of Menendez's live-in (who runs a lobbying group).
Menendez's earmarks, and his Capitol Hill legislative initiatives, are a clear roadmap to (1) his campaign contributors' interests, (2) the lobby income of his live-in, (3) his investment portfolio held in the gal pal's name, and (4) Sen Menendez's sex life, here and offshore.
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