[Free Beacon] Federal prosecutors asserted in a new document filed Wednesday that Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez (NJ.) started taking bribes from a wealthy donor shortly after he entered the Senate in 2006.Menendez's trial for bribery and corruption is set to begin next week, and Justice Department prosecutors laid out their case against the senator and his alleged co-conspirator, Dr. Salomon Melgen, who has been convicted but not yet sentenced for defrauding millions of dollars from Medicare in a separate case, Politico reported.
"The defendants' bribery scheme began shortly after Menendez's elevation to the Senate in 2006, when Melgen began a pattern of treating Menendez to weekend and weeklong getaways in the Dominican Republic that would continue for the next several years," prosecutors said in the filing.
"For the first four years of the corruption scheme, the all-expense paid trips Melgen provided often included free roundtrip flights on Melgen's private jet for Menendez and his various guests," prosecutors said. "When the doctor's private jet was unavailable, Melgen supplied equally luxurious travel for the senator."