Arnold & Porter Secures Victory in Trial of Dr. Salomon Melgen

WASHINGTON, DC, February 1, 2018 — On January 31, 2018, the US District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed the criminal case against Dr. Salomon Melgen and his longtime friend US Senator Robert Menendez. Dr. Melgen's defense team was led by Arnold & Porter attorneys Kirk Ogrosky and Murad Hussain, and included counsel from Kobre & Kim LLP. The prosecution was brought by the US Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section, which requested the dismissal.

In November 2017, after a 10-week trial of Dr. Melgen and Senator Menendez on bribery and related charges, the Court declared a mistrial when the jury deadlocked after voting 10-2 for acquittal on all counts. Then, on January 19, 2018, the prosecution declared its intent to retry the case. But just five days later on January 24, the Court partly granted a defense motion and acquitted Dr. Melgen and Senator Menendez of all bribery charges based on Dr. Melgen's First Amendment-protected political contributions. Mr. Hussain successfully argued that the prosecution's evidence failed to satisfy the First Amendment standard for charging political contributions as bribes. As a result, the only remaining charges for retrial related primarily to Dr. Melgen's personal hospitality. On January 31, the Department of Justice moved to dismiss the indictment in light of the partial acquittals' impact on the rest of the prosecution's case.