TRENTON — U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez today denied any wrongdoing in the wake of allegations that a major campaign donor now under investigation by the FBI provided him with prostitutes and plane flights to the Dominican Republic.

UPDATE:

Menendez campaigns linked to doctor accused of setting up trysts with prostitutes

The allegations resurfaced after the offices of Salomon Melgen, a high-profile Palm Beach eye doctor who has given tens of thousands in political contributions to Menendez (D-N.J.) and others, were the target of a late-night raid by the FBI on Tuesday in Florida.

"Dr. Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Senator Menendez for many years. Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr. Melgen's plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately," said a spokesman for the senator.

"Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated right-wing blog and are false."

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Melgen is a top donor to Menendez who has also supported the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chaired by Menendez, the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, and others in the Senate.

The FBI, which confirmed it had executed a search warrant on Melgen’s office Tuesday, would not discuss the nature of the investigation. "The only information we are providing is that we are conducting law enforcement activity in the general vicinity of 2521 Metrocentre Blvd, West Palm Beach, Fla," said Jim Marshall, a spokesman for the FBI in Miami.

The search of Melgen's offices, which was first reported by the Miami Herald, was focused on his medical practice in West Palm Beach. The paper reported that agents hauled away evidence in several vans.

The West Palm Beach, Fla. medical office of Dr. Salomon Melgen, which was raided by the FBI on Tuesday night.

While no one would disclose what sparked the search, Melgen’s financial problems are no secret. There is an outstanding $11.1 million tax lien lodged against him by the IRS.

But at the same time, Melgen has been the focus of recurring anonymous and ongoing allegations in recent months that he arranged for Menendez to fly on his private jet to the Dominican Republic for trysts with prostitutes, some of them underage — a charge vociferously denied by Menendez.

Those allegations first surfaced on the conservative website The Daily Caller on Nov. 1, just days before Menendez was up for re-election. The website interviewed two anonymous women who claimed to be prostitutes. With their faces concealed, they claimed that Menendez had paid them for sex.

Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic, and as of November there were no allegations that any of the sex workers were underage.

At the time, Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright had called the accusations "completely false and we're not going to dignify them or the discredited right wing website that's peddling it with a response."

The story got virtually no traction in the mainstream press and was largely forgotten until last week, when an anonymous blog posted dozens of e-mails purporting to be between a tipster who used the alias “Peter Williams” and a man identified as FBI Special Agent Regino E. Chavez in Miami.

Those new emails came to light on Thursday — a crucial time just days before Menendez was set to take over as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, replacing Sen. John Kerry who was approved Tuesday as the next secretary of state.

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According to those emails, Williams was contacted by Chavez after he reached out to the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW. The group passed the information on both to the FBI.

In the e-mails, which begin on Aug. 1 and run through mid-December, Chavez pleads with Williams multiple times to speak on the phone or meet in person, but apparently to no avail.

In an e-mail on Sept. 12, Chavez told Williams “as far as the information you have provided, we have been able to confirm most of it. We know that you have been providing accurate information.” What information Chavez was referring to, however, is unclear.

According to the emails, Williams provided Chavez with a copy of what he said was an interview from the now 19-year-old prostitute in which she said she had sex with Menendez three times in 2009. She said they met twice again afterward, in 2010 and 2011.

“I was underage when I met him. But I can’t say for sure whether he knew it or not,” reads the transcript. “I don’t know if he was aware of that, but he can’t say I’m not telling the truth. He does know I had sex with him being very young and that’s a fact he can’t deny.”

The Star-Ledger wrote to Williams on Friday asking him to speak on the phone. He sent an email on Saturday that included what he said was his latest email exchange with Chavez.

"I think we need to deal with this situation as soon as possible and I think we need to do this together. I believe that the best thing for you to do is to meet with me away from the Dominican Republic in a location where you can feel safe,” reads the purported email from Chavez to Williams. “I can make arrangements for you to fly to Miami, Florida so that we can meet in a place where you don’t have to worry about being watched or followed. We will pay for your air plane fare, your lodging, and incidentals, so that you don’t have to worry about incurring expenses. We can make these arrangement fairly quickly so let me know as soon as you can."

On Friday, FBI spokesman Jason Pack, would only say that “DOJ Policy prohibits us from confirming or denying the existence of an investigation.”

Star-Ledger staff writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.

Follow @MattFriedmanSL

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