David Samson, the former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey chairman and longtime founding partner of a powerful West Orange-based law firm who pleaded guilty last summer to a federal charge of bribery, was sentenced Monday to a year of home confinement, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.NJ Advance Media reported that Samson also received four years of probation, 3,600 hours of community service and a $100,000 fine from U.S. District Judge Jose Linares.
Samson, a former state attorney general and ex-confidante of Gov. Chris Christie, is guilty of using his high-ranking position at the bistate agency to force United Airlines into running a weekly, unprofitable flight from Port Authority-operated Newark Liberty International Airport to Columbia, South Carolina, close to where Samson owned a vacation home.
United canceled the service just days after Samson resigned from the Port Authority, and airline CEO Jeff Smisek resigned last September amid a growing federal inquiry into the matter. Though United did not face criminal charges in the case, the airline did agree to pay a $2.25 million fine and submit to a series of reforms.
The charges against Samson came to light as a result of the federal probe into the illegal closing of traffic lanes in Fort Lee at the George Washington Bridge in 2013. The investigation also resulted in charges against former state Department of Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox, who died last month from complications of kidney disease.
Samson’s sentencing was initially scheduled for late last year but was pushed back several times, as is common. Samson had faced up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
David Samson, former Port Authority chair, sentenced to one year of home confinement for bribery
— NJ US Attorney (@USAO_NJ) March 6, 2017
