FBI raids Menendez donor's office

[itshappening]

The FBI has raided the offices of Dr. Salomon Melgen, an opthalmologist and Democratic Party donor reportedly connected to New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s alleged solicitation of prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.

The Miami Herald reports:

FBI agents raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor accused in the conservative press of providing free trips and even Dominican Republic prostitutes to New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez — who has denied what he calls the "fallacious allegations."

Agents gathered at the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other prominent politicians, late Tuesday night to start hauling away potential evidence in about a dozen white vans.

The exact focus of the investigation is unclear, as is whether it is tied to Menendez, a Democrat. A spokesman for Menendez couldn’t be reached for comment, nor could Melgen.

Melgen has an outstanding IRS lien of $11.1 million, for taxes owed from 2006 to 2009, according to records filed with the Palm Beach County recorder’s office. A previous IRS lien for $6.2 million was released in 2011.

While reporting for The Daily Caller last year before joining Breitbart News, a current Dominican Republic government official told this reporter that Menendez (pictured, right) used Melgen’s (left) private plane to travel to and from the wealthy eye doctor’s personal villa at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic. While there, the official said they engaged in wild parties full of “sex, hookers and drinking.”

This reporter broke the story while writing for TheDC last year, and interviewed two Dominican Republic women in November who claimed Menendez paid them for sex around Easter-time last year. The encounter apparently took place at Casa de Campo, a posh 7,000-acre resort in the Dominican Republic. Each woman told this reporter that Menendez had agreed to pay them $500 for sex but only paid them $100.

Emails published online last week support this reporter’s original accounts by confirming the existence of an FBI investigation. On August 1, 2012, the FBI had opened an inquiry into Menendez’s alleged prostitution solicitation—mainly because one of the prostitutes Menendez allegedly paid for sex was allegedly underage.

On Monday, Breitbart News' Kerry Picket pressed Menendez on the issue. Menendez told Picket that he wasn’t “going to dignify that story” when she asked for comment.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/29/FBI-raids-offices-of-high-dollar-Menendez-donor-connected-to-alleged-Dominican-Republic-prostitution-scandal

[itshappening]

http://news.heartland.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/heartlander-thumb-promo-large/become-fbi-agent.jpg

[Occam's Banana]

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez [...] has denied what he calls the "fallacious allegations."

Heh. Fallacious allegations are fellatious allegations?

[itshappening]

bump, all over drudgereport.com

[Confederate]

Heh. Fallacious allegations are fellatious allegations?

Haha yeah that was my first thought when I read his comment.

[itshappening]

it would be interesting to see what kind of Republican Christie appointed if Menendez was forced out.

Whoever it is will probably be worse than Scott Brown if that's possible.

[itshappening]

Menendez needs high level vetting to be chairman of Foreign Relations.

That means he has to answer questions like: 'Have you ever been to the Dominican Republic?', 'How many times?', 'Have you slept with prostitutes?'

[kathy88]

Menendez needs high level vetting to be chairman of Foreign Relations.

That means he has to answer questions like: 'Have you ever been to the Dominican Republic?', 'How many times?', 'Have you slept with prostitutes?'

Dems can have dirty sex "secrets" pubs cannot. Damn, mundane...

[itshappening]

Dems can have dirty sex "secrets" pubs cannot. Damn, mundane...

I recall Vitter survived a scandal.

[Confederate]

I recall Vitter survived a scandal.

He never slept with underage hookers.

[Confederate]

Here's something else:



NJ man pleads guilty to steering illegal contributions to Sen. Bob Menendez (http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/30/nj-man-pleads-guilty-to-steering-illegal-contributions-to-sen-bob-menendez/#ixzz2JSy7KSHp)

The owner of a New Jersey medical imaging company pleaded guilty Tuesday to making $21,400 in illegal campaign contributions to Democratic New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez between 2005 and 2008.

Benedetto Bigica, 45, and two of his family members served as “straw contributors” to Menendez, according to northjersey.com, with Bigica’s brother Joseph reimbursing them for their contributions.

The scheme allowed Joseph Bigica to donate far more than the amount allowed by the Federal Election Campaign Act — a total of $98,600 between 2005 and 2009.

That brings the total money involved in the Bigica brothers’ crimes to $120,000.

“Senator Menendez’s campaign, a victim of the fraud that ensued, cooperated fully with the investigation,” Menendez’s former campaign manager Mike Solimon said Tuesday.

Solimon said the senator donated the illegal contributions to charity after Joseph Bigica pleaded guilty in May 2012 to two criminal charges and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Benedetto Bigica, meanwhile, faces up to five years behind bars for his part in the scheme.

“U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge David Velazquez in Newark; special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Shantelle P. Kitchen, and criminal investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea,” according to a press release issued Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Newark.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/30/nj-man-pleads-guilty-to-steering-illegal-contributions-to-sen-bob-menendez/#ixzz2JSy2gKEK

[PatriotOne]

Whoa. There's alot more to this guy Dr. Salomon Melgen than just being a successful eye doctor. Not sure what this means yet but ......

http://www.melgeneyecenter.com/documents/biography.pdf

Co-Founder, Seisint, Inc. (Super Computer Company that aids in locating 9/11 terrorists)
Alternate Ambassador of the United Nations for the Dominican Republic (1996-Present)
Honorary Goodwill Ambassador of the Dominican Republic (2000-Present)
Honorary Lt. Colonel, Puerto Rico Police
Knight Commander Award by Knights of Malta
Knight of Grace Award by Knights of Malta

*****************

http://ourallies.com/tbtc/melgen.htm

"I consider Dr. Melgen to be a very good friend and a person of high integrity. His efforts as a co-founder and board member of Seisint, Inc. are to be greatly valued. He played a major role in Seisint's development, the data base company which helped the United States Government track down the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks. I consider him a great American and a man who loves and will do anything for this country." – Brian Stafford, Former Director of the United States Secret Service (1999-2003)

Beginning in late August of 2004 a series of events began that would severely test Dr. Melgen's faith in the American Dream.

Over the next 6 weeks, Dr. Melgen lost $15,000,000 due to a forged document and the sheer negligence of one of American's biggest banks (Bank of America).

Dr. Melgen was a co-founder, board member and angel investor in Seisint, the company that played a vital role in the early identification of the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. In 2004, Seisint was sold to Reed Elsevier for $775 million, providing Dr. Melgen with $15 million for his investment in the company.

Jerome Fisher knew Dr. Melgen would be receiving a significant sum of money from the Seisint sale. Dr. Melgen considered Mr. Fisher, who founded the Nine West shoe store chain, to be a good friend. Mr. Fisher told him about some spectacular returns he was earning on investments in an individual account at Banc of America Securities managed by a local Palm Beach money manager, John Kim. Fisher encouraged Dr. Melgen to open an individual investment account at Banc of America also to be managed by John Kim, which Dr. Melgen did. Kim was reputed to be a capable trader. Melgen deposited almost all of his share of the Seisint sale in Banc of America Securities and granted Kim, and only Kim individually, a limited power of attorney that only permitted him to trade, but not withdraw any money from the account.

According to documents filed by Melgen’s lawyers, what he didn’t know at the time he opened the account was that Fisher actually had a pending $5.7 million margin call. According to internal Banc of America Securities emails, bank officials were concerned with how the Fisher margin call would be met.

To Dr. Melgen’s shock, what he found out only after being granted some limited discovery in the Florida State Courts, is that his account was actually being controlled and traded by Won Lee, a partner of Kim’s in a hedge fund. Won Lee was not authorized in the Trading Authorization to act in the account. Yet it was later revealed that he had been in full control of the account from day one. Banc emails show that at one point Lee was being allowed to trade Melgen’s account at a ratio of 5.3 to 1.

According to Won Lee’s affidavit, Fisher was very concerned with the margin calls in his account when he brought Dr. Melgen to Banc of America. Additionally, Lee stated that Lee was trading Fisher’s and Melgen’s accounts in bulk, permitting them to allocate gains to Fisher and losses to Melgen, thus covering Fisher’s losses. According to Lee, “(Banc of America) should not have permitted us to trade the … assets in bulk in (Lee’s) Shoreland Account. The Fisher and Melgen accounts were separate accounts.” The bank knew when the accounts were opened that they were separate accounts. Lee further stated, “it appeared to me that (Banc of America) was willing to give me anything I asked for. In fact, I think that (Banc of America) may have changed the trading platform just for us, to allow us to bulk trade different customer’s accounts”.

By October 12, 2004 the Bank had decided that its “experience with the client does not merit the risks. Therefore after the client has closed the position, we are going to ask the client to take their business elsewhere.” See Email dated Oct 12, 2004. On October 13, 2004 Banc of America Securities did in fact send a letter to Won Lee directing him to “transition your accounts to another custodian as soon as possible.” Curiously, Dr. Melgen was never advised that Banc of America deemed Won Lee too risky to do business with. Banc of America Securities did not inform Dr. Melgen of this significant and important decision effecting his account. On that same day an internal email expressed thanks to the staff for covering without a loss. (see email).

On October 12, Dr. Melgen still had more than $7,000,000 of his original $15 million investment in assets remaining in his account. Soon after the bank ordered Lee to “transition his accounts to another custodian,” Lee prepared a forged letter directing the bank to transfer “all equity and all stock positions in (Melgen’s) account ... to (Lee’s) account.” This forged letter was not on Dr. Melgen’s letterhead, or anyone’s letterhead. It was faxed to Banc of America Securities from Won Lee. Won Lee was the General Partner of Shoreland Trading and controlled the Shoreland Trading account, to which Dr. Melgen’s money was transferred. At that time Banc of America considered Lee too risky to do business with, apparently because of certain improper trades and Lee’s dishonest response when he was caught making those trades. The bank had ordered Lee out of the bank.

Lee’s Shoreland Trading account did not have any of Lee’s assets in it. Banc of America transferred more than $7 million in assets from the doctor’s account to the Lee account based on that forged letter. The bank did not bother to call Dr. Melgen before doing so. Shortly after, on November 4th, Lee faxed a second memo to Matt Jose at Banc of America. This memo was remarkably and suspiciously similar to the memo that supposedly came from Melgen; even the last sentence included in both memos stated: “If you have any questions, please contact me or Won Lee.” Apparently Mr. Jose did not find it odd that Won Lee was referring to himself in the third person, or that Lee’s memo was nearly identical in form to a memo supposedly written by Dr. Melgen (see faxes for yourself). The totality of these facts should have been clear to any broker with any degree of knowledge or experience. Perhaps this is why Lee thanked the bank for facilitating the transfer.

Throughout the entire course of this case, Dr. Melgen and his attorneys repeatedly wrote to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking the agency’s intervention in what was an egregious action by a major financial institution. The SEC provided no help.

In recent years, Dr. Melgen has spent a significant amount of money in his lawsuit against Banc of America Securities, now owners of Merrill Lynch, to denounce this type of gross negligence, irresponsibility, and failure to protect customer bank deposits.

"The end result could not be more daunting. The federal courts ruled in favor of the bank apparently concluding that Banc of America had no obligation at all, neither fiduciary, nor contractual, to its customers," said Melgen. This latest 2010 ruling against Dr. Melgen has established a very dangerous precedent of law such that no investor is safe and effectively bypasses the strict regulatory protection placed by the SEC and FINRA to protect investors assets. As a matter of fact, this precedent was recently cited in the case of Goldman Sachs v. Bayou Group. “QUITE HONESTLY, I DON’T KNOW WHAT ELSE BANK OF AMERICA COULD HAVE DONE IN ORDER FOR COURTS TO FIND THAT THE BANK ACTED IMPROPERLY. It seems to me that based on this ruling, banks have full immunity to do whatever they want and no responsibility to anyone,” he said.

Surprised by the U.S. banks’ lack of accountability for the investments of its clients, physician Salomon Melgen is launching a public information campaign in America and throughout Latin America to warn investors of the potential risks concealed within the American financial system and the dangerous precedent of law that could essentially endanger all investors. The campaign is intended to warn investors about the risks of doing business with U.S. investment banks, especially Bank of America, based on his painful personal experience. Melgen already informed EFE, the Spanish wire service, of his plans to launch a campaign to raise awareness via TOO BIG TO CARE and various social networks.

Given the potential impact of this precedent on the U.S. financial system, Dr. Melgen is taking this case to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee in an effort to urge them to consider convening a special hearing to discuss the effect this could have in further eroding the credibility of U.S. Banking system. Interestingly, a Senate Banking Committee staffer revealed that one of the issues not addressed in the Dodd-Frank legislation is the custodial responsibility brokers should have towards investors. This omission in US law creates a risk to any investor who places his assets in the custody of brokers, and has to be corrected.

"The banks main asset should be the trust of its customers, and loopholes should not be used to work against the best interest of its customers," said Melgen. "This is quite a stark difference from how Banco Santander took responsibility for its role in the nearly $2 billion in losses suffered by its clients in the Madoff scheme. Bank’s should have a moral duty to protect their clients against fraudulent schemes, especially when they know about them,” said Melgen.

Having lost his court battle, Dr. Melgen now wants to take his case directly to the court of public opinion, "warning investors of the risks and weaknesses of the U.S. financial system, pleading with them to read the small print in any contract and to have legal counsel before signing any document with any brokerage house" he added. “I know I won’t recover my money, but I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anybody else.”

"What amazes me is that while the bank does not dispute its negligent actions in this case, they simultaneously claim no responsibility, giving one a feeling of helplessness in knowing that the banks have no legal obligation to protect customers from their reckless conduct. What is really incredible is the level of their hypocrisy, considering that Bank of America emphasized its trustworthiness in its 2009 Annual Report while denying all responsibility to their customers by seeking rulings adverse to customers and hiding behind technicalities and fine print,” concluded Melgen.

[KingRobbStark]

What do they expect to find there?