Charges to be read today against Melgen and a bail hearing is pending

MIAMI. Dominican Doctor Solomon Melgen, involved in a case of political corruption together with New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, will return today to the Federal Court in Florida in order to hear the charges against him relating to an alleged Medicare fraud.

According with information published on the website of CBS 12, Melgen, arrested on Tuesday afternoon, will also attend a bail hearing, after the prosecutors said yesterday in their appearance before the judge that there exists a flight risk.

The news network said, in addition, that according to documents that they obtain, Melgen will be accused of 76 charges related to the alleged fraud.

Last Tuesday, the Department of Justice of the United States had reported on 46 charges against the ophthalmologist.

Melgen's lawyers, Anne Lyons, Maria Dominquez and Michael Chavies, said they had no knowledge of those new charges.

They added upon leaving the courtroom that their client was asking for his freedom on bail, arguing that Melgen suffers from several health problems, and has programmed for tomorrow, Friday a biopsy of his prostate.

The indictment, released last Wednesday, accuses him of having operated a fraudulent scheme between 2004 and 2013, a time during which Melgen, 61, invoiced Medicare for more than US$190 million, and received more than US$105 million.

Just in 2012, officials of the health sector according to the Associated Press said that he invoiced this governmental service of medical attention for elderly adults more than any other doctor in the United States, with more than US$21 million.