A defense attorney for a co-defendant of Sen. Bob Menendez claimed Thursday that bribery and fraud charges against the New Jersey Democrat are an ‘attack’ on Hispanic Americans.
And the lawyer, Kirk Ogrosky, told jurors in a Newark courtroom that lavish gifts of private-jet travel and five-star vacations Menendez received from longtime friend Salomon Melgen weren’t attempts to buy government favors but a sign of ‘hospitality’ rooted in the culture of his native Dominican Republic.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Ogrosky argued Menendez and Melgen, a former Florida eye doctor, should be viewed as ‘part of a fellowship of Hispanic-Americans’ that includes entrepreneurs, businessmen, doctors and politicians – not as a privileged millionaire and a politician on the take.
Hispanics in the U.S., he said in an opening statement on Melgen’s behalf, are a group that aims to ‘pay it forward, help young Hispanic-Americans improve their lives’ and ‘play a larger role in American society.’
‘This case is not only an attack on these two men, it’s an attack on that whole group,’ he said, defined by their race and nationality.
Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez (left) and former Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen (right) are facing federal bribery charges, and one defense attorney says the prosecution is an attack on all Hispanic-Americans
Menendez left the trial’s first day on Wednesday and attended a rally in support of people who benefit from DACA, a deportation shield for people – mostly Hispanics – brought to the U.S. illegally as children
The argument is part of the opening salvo in the first bribery trial to hit a sitting Senator in a decade.
Prosecutors say Menendez intervened on Melgen’s behalf with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in an attempt to scuttle a Medicare fraud investigation that later brought a criminal conviction, helped his girlfriends get tourist visas after they were denied, and tried to influence the Dominican government to change its port security system in a way that would benefit a business Melgen partially owned.
In exchange, the U.S. Department of Justice claims, Melgen gave Menendez trips on his private jet, a high-end Paris hotel room, vacations at his private Cominican villa at the tony Casa de Campo resort, and other gifts.
Ogrosky said Menendez sometimes paid his own way, but Menendez failed to report the freebies on his government financial disclosure reports at the time.
Melgen also donated at least $750,000 to Democratic election committees overseen by Menendez, directly benefiting his re-election campaigns, records show.
That may bolster the government’s claim that Menendez wasn’t performing his expected duties in merely helping a constituent.
Menendez faces 20 years in prison for the most serious charge, known as honest services fraud
Ogrosky insisted that a U.S. senator’s actions can impact people in all 50 states, meaning his ‘constituents’ could live anywhere in the country.
Judge William Walls asked both sides to submit written arguments on the matter of who Menendez’s constituents are.
Menendez, 63, is standing trial for bribery, honest services fraud, conspiracy, and other related charges.
He could face 20 years in prison on the fraud charge if he is convicted. The trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks.
Prosecutor Peter Koski pointed out several times in his opening statement that Melgen lived in Florida, a state Menendez was not elected to represent.