How feds say former P. A. head shook down United Airlines

[TexasTowelie]

David Samson, the former chairman of the Port Authority, faces sentencing Monday on bribery charges in connection with a scheme to force United Airlines to schedule a non-stop flight for his sole benefit. Samson wanted the airline to fly from Newark Liberty International Airport to South Carolina, where he had a second home.

The one-time state attorney general and high-power attorney admitted he abused his power to coerce one of the nation's largest airlines into putting the money-losing route into service, by withholding approval of a critical new maintenance facility at the Newark Liberty, which is operated by the Port Authority.

In a series of pre-sentence legal briefs filed last week with U.S. District Judge Jose Linares, the U.S. Attorney's office provided new details on the bizarre scheme that could put Samson, 77, in prison for as many as 24 months.

Rest Period

Samson and his wife owned a horse country estate in Aiken, S.C., they called "Rest Period," which refers to the break in play during a polo match. After Samson bought the home, an interior designer told Augusta magazine he "decorated the entire house from floorboards to ceilings with 18th- and 19th-century French and Italian antiques."

Read more: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/how_david_samson_scored_his_own_personal_dream_fli.html

[pkdu]

1. "as MUCH as 24 months" ...disgusting. nt

[nitpicker]

2. He got off with slapped wrists

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/former-new-jersey-attorney-general-and-chairman-port-authority-board-commissioners

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of New Jersey

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 6, 2017

Former New Jersey Attorney General And Chairman Of Port Authority Board Of Commissioners Sentenced To One Year Of Home Confinement For Bribery

Court Also Fines Him $100,000, Orders Four Years’ Probation

NEWARK, N.J. – David Samson, the former chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was sentenced today to 12 months of home confinement and four years of probation for using his official authority to pressure the parent company of United Airlines Inc. to institute a non-stop flight from Newark to South Carolina for his personal benefit, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman, Inspector General Michael Nestor of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Office of Inspector General, and Special Agent in Charge Timothy Gallagher of the FBI’s Newark Division, announced.

Samson, 77, of Aiken, South Carolina, who served as New Jersey Attorney General from 2002 to 2003 and was the founding member and chairman of the law firm Wolff & Samson PC, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of bribery. Judge Linares imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

“We believe that Mr. Samson’s crime, which involved a substantial violation of trust by a high-ranking public official, warranted a significant term of incarceration,” U.S. Attorney Fishman said. “Obviously we’re disappointed in the sentence, but we respect the court’s decision.”
(snip)

In addition to home confinement and probation, Judge Linares sentenced Samson to 3,600 hours of community service and fined him $100,000.

((Maybe it would cost so much to have him in a prison's medical ward that the judge told him to stay home?))