BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A Florida eye doctor with a past of tax problems was the focus of an investigation by the FBI for flying New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez to parties involving prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.

Late on Tuesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the West Palm Beach office of ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, who owns a private plane, and has been a donor to Menendez’s political campaigns.

Last year, The Daily Caller interviewed two women who claimed that Menendez paid them for sex at an expensive resort in the Dominican Republic. Some of the prostitutes were alleged to be minors. Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic, but someone who has sex with a minor outside the country can still be charged with a crime in the United States.

Menendez’s office said, according to the Miami Herald, “Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr. Melgen’s plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately. Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated right-wing blog and are false.”

Palm Beach County records showed that Melgen has an outstanding IRS lien of $11.1 million for taxes owed between 2006 and 2009, and has paid two previous IRS liens totaling $7.5 million since 2002. But NorthJersey.com reported that Melgen and his family have donated $157,000 to political committees in Menendez’s behalf in the past few years.

New Jersey Republicans filed a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee complaint against Menendez in November, alleging that accepting the free flights was a violation of Senate rules. According to an Associated Press story on NBC New York, Menendez wrote a personal check of $58,500 for two round-trip flights to the Dominican Republic.

Senate ethics rules say that any gifts to senators valued at more than $250 have to be publicly reported and approved by the SEC. Menendez chief of staff Dan O’Brien said the delay in paying was an “oversight.”