On his last day in office, President Donald Trump is eyeing leniency for Dr. Salomon Melgen, the currently jailed Florida ophthalmologist who was linked to Senator Robert Menendez’s corruption case, according to a new CNN report.
Trump, who will step down on Wednesday, will grant pardons to about 100 people, from pardons related to criminal justice reform to political allies, CNN reported on Monday, citing three anonymous sources.
The president can issue pardons until he leaves office at noon, and this has traditionally been one of the final actions before the end of the presidency.
Melgen, 66, is currently in prison after being convicted of dozens of charges of fraud in the health care system, including submitting false allegations and falsifying patient files. In 2018, he was sentenced to 17 years after he was found guilty of stealing $ 73 million from Medicare.
The disgraced ophthalmologist may be best known for his generous gifts and donations to Menendez, a Democrat, who took the doctor to court on charges of fraud and bribery in 2013.
Dr. Salomón Melgen in an archival photo from the Palm Beach Post 2013, Richard Graulich / The Palm Beach Post – WEST PALM BEACH The Palm Beach Post
The two met at a fundraiser in 1993, when Menendez had recently been sworn in as New Jersey’s first Hispanic congressman. Melgen, a wealthy ophthalmologist specializing in vitreous and retinal surgery, had offices in Florida that were no strangers to celebrities.
They have kept in touch over the years. Melgen told Bloomberg News that they were “like brothers, like friends” in 2013.
In 2017, prosecutors claimed that Melgen had provided Menendez with six-figure campaign contributions, luxury gifts and private plane flights in exchange for Menendez’s intervention on behalf of the doctor in a $ 1.9 million Medicare dispute, as well as visa applications from the doctor’s girlfriends and a controversial port security contract in the Dominican Republic, where Melgen is originally from.
After an 11-week contentious trial that ended with an impasse jury, a federal judge declared the trial to be overturned and the case was never tried again. Menendez has maintained his innocence since the Justice Department announced the accusation against longtime friends on April 1, 2015.
According to CNN, Trump’s forgiveness should not come as a surprise based solely on Menendez’s policy, but because Melgen is seen as a wealthy and influential resident of South Florida.
After a violent siege of the Capitol and dozens of corporations severing ties with the president, Trump is planning to spend his post-presidential months at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.
During his time in office, Trump granted clemency to more than 90 people, including Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner’s father and the wretched developer who was prosecuted by then-United States attorney Chris Christie.
CNN reported that neither Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is being held in a London prison, nor the president himself are currently on the pardon list. Allies also warned against the forgiveness of supporters accused of breaking into the Capitol on January 6.
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Ted Sherman and Brent Johnson contributed to this report.
Sophie Nieto-Munoz can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on @snietomunoz.