A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the Florida eye doctor linked to Sen. Robert Menendez’s dropped corruption case to 17 years in prison for defrauding Medicare and stealing $73 million from the system.
Salomon Melgen was sentenced in court for 67 crimes, including health-care fraud, submitting false claims and falsifying records in patients’ files.
Melgen was the highest-paid doctor by Medicare in the entire U.S. for five straight years, prosecutors said. He convinced hundreds of older patients to undergo often-painful operations they did not need.
Prosecutors dropped a separate bribery case against Melgen and Menendez last month. Investigators alleged Melgen provided favors and money to Menendez in exchange for political access.
Read more at Roll Call.
