Senator from New Jersey punished for expensive gifts from the sponsor

The US Senate Ethics Committee issued a “severe reprimand” for New Jersey Senate Democrat Robert Menendez for expensive gifts he received from a sponsor, the committee said in a statement.

Photo: menendez.senate.gov

He also ordered Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, to declare the market value of all gifts received.

Three Republicans and three Democrats found that from 2006 to 2013, Menendez "consciously and repeatedly accepted gifts of high value from Dr. Melgen without receiving the required approval from the committee."

Among the gifts were charter flights and stays in luxury hotels, including a villa in the Dominican Republic.

“You repeatedly and deliberately received gifts of significant value from Dr. Salomon Melgen, without receiving the necessary congressional approval, and you did not declare a number of gifts, as required by the rules of the Senate and federal legislation,” the senators said in a letter.

“By accepting these gifts, you used your position as a member of the Senate to further Dr. Melgen’s personal and business interests,” the committee wrote in a letter to Menendez.

Among other things, Menendez intervened when Dr. Melgen was accused of abuse of insurance. Medicare almost 9 million dollars.

The senator also helped arrange visas for her friends to come to the United States. Both men claimed that their actions were signs of friendship, not bribery.

Mark Elias, Menendez’s lawyer, said many of the committee’s findings contradict previous court proceedings.

The Republicans made another conclusion about Menendez, who intends to be reelected in November.

“Robert Menendez's scandalous behavior outlined in this letter should outrage every voter in New Jersey,” said Bob Salera, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “The Senate Ethics Committee found what was already clear from the Menendez criminal trial: Bob Menendez is a fraud.”

Menendez is not the first senator from New Jersey to receive a letter. In 2002, the committee similarly warned Senator Robert Torricelli about actions that very much reminded Menendez: secretly accepting gifts from rich businessman David Chang, using his power as senator to help him.

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