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A US senator has denied he had sex with under-aged prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, while repaying a wealthy donor $58,500 (€43,250) for flights to the Caribbean nation on a private jet.
Senator Robert Menendez, the incoming chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee, issued the statement amid growing controversy surrounding the donor, Dr Salomon Melgen.
"Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically motivated right-wing blog and are false," said a spokesman for Mr Menendez.
Two women from the Dominican Republic claimed in 'The Daily Caller', a news website, that they were paid for sex with Mr Menendez, a 58-year-old divorcee, last year at the Casa de Campo resort.
Dr Melgen, an eye specialist and friend of the senator, owns a property in the 7,000-acre resort, at which Mr Menendez is reported to have stayed.
The doctor's clinic in West Palm Beach, Florida, was this week raided by the FBI. Its agents are believed to be investigating potential fraud relating to the Medicare health scheme.
Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
Irish Independent
