A company controlled by Salomon Melgen, the political donor whose ties to Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) have been under scrutiny, this week reported tens of thousands of dollars in in previously undisclosed lobbying, Politico reported on Wednesday:
Paperwork filed Monday indicates that Alan Reider, a partner at the powerful law and lobbying firm Arnold & Porter, started lobbying the Senate in June 2009 for “Vitreo-Retinal Consultants Eye Center” on “issues related to Medicare reimbursement.”
In 2009 and 2012, the West Palm Beach, Fla.-based company spent between $50,000 and $59,998, according to Monday’s filings, which indicate that it stopped its lobbying at the end of both years.
Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist whose business interests are now reportedly the subject of a federal investigation, has been fighting the government’s 2008 finding that Vitreo-Retinal Consultants over-billed Medicare by millions of dollars.