A federal judge approved a bond for a Florida eye doctor in connection to alleged corruption charges with Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Hopkins approved an $18 million bond package on Thursday for Dr. Salomon Melgen in addition to other terms.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Melgen has been under the eye of the federal government for alleged Medicare billing fraud. He was also indicted in March with Menendez on alleged corruption charges.

In April, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Bell told Hopkins that Melgen would be a flight risk to the Dominican Republic, where he has a boat at his waterfront home, a resort villa and other assets and connections to officials in the country.

"He could flee to the Dominican Republic or to another country for that matter," continued Bell last April, noting that the Dominican Republic has an extradition agreement with the U.S., but the agreement does not include a provision for a potential fugitive accused of healthcare fraud.

The indictment against Melgen claimed the eye doctor collected $105 million in Medicare reimbursements between 2008 and 2013. Prosecutors stated the reimbursements were fraudulent claims from the taxpayer-funded program. Melgen's attorneys said his client is innocent and has the right to post bail ahead of the trial.

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Melgen has been in jail for more than 11 weeks since his arrest on alleged Medicare fraud. Melgen's alleged fraud case is a separate case from the matter concerning Menendez.

As Latin Post reported, a New Jersey grand jury indicted Menendez on conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud, violating travel laws and issuing false statements. According to the Justice Department, Menendez and Melgen, who was also charged by the same grand jury, "knowingly combine, conspire, confederate and agree with each other and others known and unknown" to commit an offense against the U.S.

On previous occasions, Menendez has considered Melgen as "one of his closest personal friends" for decades. Menendez and Melgen's families have spent holidays, funerals and weddings together and admitted to exchanging personal gifts.

"As has been reported, the start of this investigation is suspect," said Menendez's Communications Director Tricia Enright in a statement last March. "We know many false allegations have been made about this matter, allegations that were ultimately publicly discredited. We also know that the official investigation of this matter is ongoing, and therefore cannot address allegations being made anonymously."

Ahead of the Florida trial, Melgen is under home detention with electronic monitoring. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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