By Ted Sherman From NJ.COM

Doctor arrives for US Senator Robert Menendez bribery case at Federal Court in Newark

NEWARK — Salomon Melgen, the Florida eye surgeon charged with plying Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) with lavish gifts, meals and trips to the Caribbean in exchange for the New Jersey Democrat’s influence on Capitol Hill, has fired his legal team and hired new lawyers.

In a federal court filing today in Newark, Melgen said he was replacing his attorneys with Miami attorney Matthew Menchel, a high-profile criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor who served as Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, and Kirk Ogrosky of Washington, former deputy chief of the Fraud Section within the Criminal Division of the US Department of Justice.

Earlier in the week, the same team was brought in to represent Melgen on separate criminal Medicare fraud charges in Florida.

Melgen had been represented in both cases by Maria Dominguez, also a former federal prosecutor, and Miami Shores attorney Anne Lyons. He remains behind bars, deemed a flight risk while awaiting trial on charges of bilking Medicare out of $190 million.

In the corruption case in New Jersey, Melgen was charged along with Menendez in a 14-count indictment charging that the state’s senior senator allegedly accepted gifts from his long-time benefactor in exchange for using the power of his Senate office to further the wealthy Florida eye surgeon’s extensive financial and personal interests.

According to the indictment, filed on April 1, Menendez traveled on Melgen’s credit card, taking domestic and international flights on private jets arranged by the doctor, used Melgen’s Caribbean villa at an exclusive Dominican resort, and pressed Melgen to pay for a stay at the five star Paris hotel.

Menendez and Melgen have both formally requested that their corruption trial be moved to Washington from Newark, arguing that almost every action allegedly taken by Menendez took place in Washington, and at least three-fourths of the potential witnesses, as well as the Justice Department prosecutors, were based there.

The other charges against Melgen alone, filed in Miami, charge that the West Palm Beach ophthalmologist falsely diagnosed patients with diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and then submitted millions of dollars in bills to the federal government. He also was charged with overbilling the government for the drug used to treat the diseases.

Ted Sherman may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

IMAGES:
Dr. Salomon Melgen, who replaced his legal team today, arrives at federal court in Newark after his indictment on corruption charges with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J) last month. (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
US Senator Robert Menendez arrives for a Federal court appearance regarding his corruption case. Newark, NJ. 4/2/15 (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

For more on this story go to: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/05/melgen_hires_new_lawyers_as_he_awaits_trial_in_cor.html