Former Port Authority Chairman David Samson, a longtime friend and mentor to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, shook down one of the world’s largest airlines so he could more easily reach his luxurious South Carolina estate.
Now Samson, who has since become a permanent South Carolina resident, will spend a year confined to that home, named "Rest Period," instead of serving time in prison.
On Monday, U.S District Court Judge Jose Linares, sitting in Newark, sentenced Samson to one year of home confinement, four years of probation, 3,600 hours of community service and a $100,000 fine. Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison term for Samson, a former state attorney general who they argued was in a better position than almost anyone to know better.
“I realize that no matter what I do in this sentence today, I will be criticized one way or the other,” Linares said.
Samson, 77, pleaded guilty in 2011 to using his chairmanship of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to withhold approval of a wide-body aircraft hangar United Airlines wanted at Newark Liberty International Airport in order to extort the airline to re-start a discontinued flight from Newark to Columbia, South Carolina — 100 miles closer than the already available flight closest to his Aiken, South Carolina, weekend home.
United, which initially resisted, consented after Samson applied pressure. The money-losing flight ran for the rest of Samson’s tenure at the Port Authority, and United again discontinued it just after Samson resigned as chairman in 2014. Samson chose the times he wanted the flight to run — it departing Newark for Columbia on Thursday nights and returning Monday mornings. He even dubbed it the “Chairman’s Flight,” which would become the nickname for one of the most memorable corruption scandals in a state known for them.
Samson’s alleged co-conspirator, former state transportation commissioner and Democratic operative Jamie Fox, who was a lobbyist for United at the time, pleaded not guilty in the case. Fox passed away last month before facing trial. A memorial service for him was set to begin just minutes after Samson heard his sentence.
“This crime was ridiculous. It was a complete abuse of power. It was corruption. And it is not to be tolerated,” Linares said.
Nevertheless, Linares said he also considered the dozens of letters pleading for leniency from Samson’s family, friends and former colleagues — including three former state attorneys general and former Gov. Jim McGreevey, under whom Samson served as the state’s top law enforcement official.
Although Linares said he was not swayed by the letters, “when public figures write a letter based on their experience with someone over a period of over 50 years in either practice or friendship and are willing to put their words out in public about someone who’s been convicted of a crime, it lends a level of veracity.”
Linares said he also considered Samson’s age and health conditions, which attorneys said included tremors, a 2012 bout with prostate cancer and a drinking problem.
The sentencing ends a long and stunning fall from grace for Samson that began in 2014, during the Bridgegate scandal. As Port Authority chairman, Samson was near the zenith of power. Though a Democrat, he was a close confidant of Christie, a Republican. Samson's law firm had also profited handsomely during the Christie administration, earning millions from state contracts.
Although Samson was never charged in the Bridgegate case, emails surfaced of him pushing back against Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye after Foye publicly complained about New Jersey officials closing access lanes to the George Washington bridge for a purported traffic study.
Samson accused Foye of leaking information to the press and said he was “stirring up trouble,” “playing in traffic” and had “made a big mistake.”
Samson’s reputation was further tarnished when reporting that grew out of the scandal uncovered potential conflicts of interest between his role at the Port and his law firm’s clients, including voting on the Port’s leasing of a parking lot to NJ Transit while his law firm represented the agency.
Michael Chertoff, Samson's attorney, portrayed his client's crime as a single lapse that undid what had been an impeccable career.
“The reality is for someone who has made their life as an attorney and a public servant and a public figure, reputational cost really has impact,” Chertoff said.
During Samson’s guilty plea, prosecutors released damaging emails between him and Fox. After a September 2011 meeting between Samson and United officials in which Samson brought up the flight, Fox told Samson he had airline executives “dancing.”
“I hope they dance to my tune — let me know if there’s a way to keep the pressure on this issue: it will save me a lot of heartache,” Samson wrote back.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna raised that email exchange in seeking prison time.
“David Samson knew the line between right and wrong, between legal and illegal. Yet despite all this training and experience, he decided on his own volition to break the law,” Khanna said. “He decided to use his official power to send a message to United Airlines that they better create this flight.”
Khanna did not dispute that Samson had “done a lot of impressive and truly generous things in his life,” but said he should still serve prison time.
“This crime was not just a mistake or a brief moment of bad judgment,” Khanna said. “This was a really big deal. Mr. Samson’s crime was planned. It was premeditated. It was carried out over months. It was calculated, it was deliberate. It was quite frankly one of the most audacious acts of corruption we have encountered.”
Linares said he was skeptical that United, which entered a non-prosecution agreement with federal authorities and paid a $2.25 million fine, was just a victim of Samson’s scheme.
“You make them sound as though they were completely the victim of this thing, and they were certainly complicit on it,” the judge said.
Chertoff argued that Samson’s crime was “a little bit like the old analogy of boiling a frog” and blamed Fox for sending “very mixed” signals as United’s lobbyist. Samson, Chertoff said, was caught up in a “battle of wills” with United, even though he crossed a line.
“Fox is not waving him off saying ‘Bad idea don’t do it,” Chertoff said. “Fox is adding coal to the fire.”
Chertoff also said Samson was likely “in the final lap” of life.
In a brief press conference after the sentencing, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said he didn’t think the sentence was “enough deterrence” for public officials.
“There is some irony to the fact that the goal of the scheme from Mr. Samson’s perspective was to make it easier for him to get to the house in South Carolina that he liked to spend his weekends at, and he’s now been sentenced to spending all of his time in that house,” Fishman said. “On the other hand, the court obviously reached the conclusion that based on Mr. Samson’s life, good works, what the court perceived to be the other evidence of what his character actually is, that that was the sentence that was appropriate.”
In a statement, Christie said it was a "sad day David and his family and friends."
The Court has ruled and this chapter is now behind us," Christie said. "David will now pay the price for his bad judgment.”