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On the last day of his tenure, President Donald Trump is eyeing clemency for Dr Salomon Melgen, the ophthalmologist currently jailed in Florida and 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 around 100 people, ranging from pardons related to criminal justice reform to political allies, CNN reported on Monday, citing three anonymous sources.
The president is able to issue pardons until he leaves office at noon, and this has traditionally been among the last actions before a presidency ends.
Melgen, 66, is currently in prison after being convicted of dozens of counts of healthcare fraud, including submitting false statements and falsifying patient records. In 2018, he was sentenced to 17 years after being convicted of stealing $ 73 million from Medicare.
The disgraced ophthalmologist is perhaps best known for his lavish gifts and donations to Menendez, a Democrat, who took the doctor to court for fraud and corruption in 2013.
Dr Salomón Melgen in a Palm Beach Post 2013 file photo, Richard Graulich / The Palm Beach Post – WEST PALM BEACH The Palm Beach Post
The two met at a fundraiser in 1993, when Menendez was recently 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 alleged that Melgen provided Menendez with six-figure campaign contributions, luxury giveaways and private plane flights in return for Menendez’s intervention on behalf of the doctor in a 1-year Medicare dispute. , $ 9 million, as well as visa requests from the doctor’s girlfriends and a contested port security contract in the Dominican Republic, where Melgen is from.
After an 11-week contentious trial that ended with a deadlocked jury, a federal judge declared a trial void and the case was never retried. Menendez has maintained his innocence since the Justice Department announced the indictment against the longtime friends on April 1, 2015.
Trump’s forgiveness, CNN said, shouldn’t come as a surprise just based on Menendez’s policies, but because Melgen is seen as a wealthy and influential resident of South Florida.
Following a violent siege on the Capitol and dozens of companies severing their ties to the president, Trump is reportedly planning to spend his post-presidential months at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.
During his tenure, Trump granted clemency to more than 90 people, including Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner’s father and the disgraced developer who was sued by then-US 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. The Allies have also reportedly warned against pardoning supporters accused of breaking and entering the Capitol on January 6.
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Ted sherman and Brent Johnson contributed to this report.
Sophie Nieto-Munoz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on @snietomunoz.
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