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U.S. federal authorities are set to bring criminal charges against New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, according to multiple news sources.
Menendez allegedly used his Senate office to push the business interests of a Democratic donor and friend in exchange for gifts, CNN said.
A representative for Menendez could not immediately be reached for comment.
Attorney General Eric Holder approved requests by prosecutors in the public integrity section to bring forth the charges, according to CNN, and an announcement could come within weeks.
Prosecutors are nearing a deadline under the statute of limitations on some of the allegations.
The FBI and the Justice Department have pursued allegations against Menendez in recent years, which the senator has denounced as a "smear campaign" against him.
The charges are expected to involve Menendez's relationship with Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist whom the senator has called a friend and political supporter, according to CNN.
Melgen and his family have generously supported Menendez and various committees that he has served on.
Plane trips Menendez took in 2010 to the Dominican Republic as a guest of Melgen are the focus of the Justice Department investigation. The probe first became public in 2013 — and Menendez paid Melgen $58,000 for the plane trips, calling his failure to disclose the flights an "oversight."
Menendez, 61, one of the highest ranking Hispanic members of Congress, is in his second full term as senator. He led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2009 to 2011. The senator has long denied wrongdoing in his ties to Melgen.
He is the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — and has been one of the Obama administration's strongest Democratic opponents in recent months on the president's decision to ease the trade embargo against Cuba and to hold direct talks with Iran over its nuclear arsenal.
The case is expected to test the Justice Department's ability to prosecute sitting lawmakers and it has already raised legal issues over whether key evidence gathered by the agency is protected by the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Melgen’s practice in Florida was raided by federal authorities twice in 2013, The Washington Times reports. He billed the federal Medicare program more than $20 million the previous year, according to data released by the administration in 2013, and he was among 2 percent of the doctors participating in the program who accounted for nearly a quarter of Medicare’s billings.
Menendez's advocacy on Melgen's behalf with federal Medicare administrators who have accused him of overbilling the agency is at the center of the Justice Department's investigation.
Melgen was among the top recipients of Medicare reimbursements during the years when he was a major Democratic donor, according to the report. Melgen's attorneys have denied wrongdoing.
More specifically, prosecutors are focusing on whether Menendez broke the law in advocating for Melgen in a contract for port-screening equipment with the government of the Dominican Republic.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency had considered donating the equipment to the Dominican Republic. The deal would have hurt the contract of ICSSI, a company that was controlled by Melgen, according to CNN.
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