A federal judge on Wednesday acquitted Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N. J., and his co-defendent on seven charges related to bribery and corruption.
Jan. 24 (UPI) — A federal judge on Wednesday acquitted Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N. J., and his co-defendent on seven charges related to bribery and corruption.
U. S. District Court Judge William Walls in New Jersey acquitted the senator of four counts, while his co-defendent, Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor, was acquitted on three counts. The judge said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that $660,000 in contributions from Melgen to Menendez’s campaign last year were part of a bribe.
Walls declared a mistrial for Menendez and Melgen in November after a 12-member jury was unable to come up with a unanimous decision on any of the dozen charges the two faced.
The U. S. Justice Department indicted Menendez in April 2015 on 14 felony counts of illegally accepting gifts and political contributions from Melgen, who was charged with 76 counts of Medicare fraud for stealing up to $190 million from the program.
Last week, federal prosecutors said they plan to retry Menendez following his mistrial. Walls said Wednesday he would not preside over the retrial.
Menendez faces nine counts in his retrial and Melgen faces eight.
