The former head of the powerful Port Authority of NY and New Jersey, a close political ally of Chris Christie, pleaded guilty Thursday to using his position to get a favored flight from United Airlines.
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One of two former high-level government appointees of Gov. Chris Christie enmeshed in a bribery scandal pleaded guilty Thursday to accepting airline tickets from a lobbyist.
Fishman, the New Jersey U.S. attorney, said in an interview that United’s cooperation was extensive and that it did not appear that there was a pattern of corruption.
David Samson, a mentor to Christie who the Republican governor tapped as chairman of the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey, pleaded guilty Thursday to using his position to pressure United Airlines to reinstate a flight from Newark to Columbia, South Carolina, to make it easier to get to his vacation home. Samson, 76, forced United Airlines to reinstate the unfrequented flight route, or he would withhold important votes the airline had before the Port Authority.
The state’s former transportation commissioner and Christie cabinet member Jamie Fox also faces a bribery charge.
Prosecutors were interested in the money-losing, nonstop route that United introduced September 6, 2012, 18 months into Samson’s tenure at the Port Authority.
“The Port Authority has and will continue to be fully cooperative in all matters under investigation”, the statement says. Not long after, United launched the special flight route. United discontinued the route after Samson resigned in March 2014. United also docked million in pay from COO Greg Hart, who remains at the company.
“Next you’ll hear from us is at the sentencing”, his attorney, Michael Chertoff, told the website.
United’s executives could still be charged individually with crimes, but during a Thursday afternoon press conference, Fishman suggested the U.S. Attorneys office has not found reason to charge the executives. United’s former CEO, Smisek, met privately with Christie and Samson, in August 2013 to discuss the airline’s and the state’s interests.
Christie’s approval ratings are at record lows in New Jersey, but some Republicans are behind him and point to the lack of charges as evidence that the governor has been put in a bind by misguided aides.
Samson, who faces up two years in prison per his plea agreement, stepped down from his position at the port authority in early 2014.
Baroni and Samson signaled they were willing to go along with United, even though the arrangement would deprive the cash-strapped Port Authority of tens of millions of dollars a year that could have been spent on airport improvements.
After an internal investigation, United CEO Jeffrey Smisek resigned in September 2015, as did Nene Foxhall, executive vice president of communications and government affairs, and Mark Anderson, senior vice president of corporate and government affairs.
But after months of requests, and the delay of a Port Authority vote on United’s request for a maintenance hangar at Newark Airport, the giant airline buckled, according to the US attorney’s office for the district of New Jersey. Sentencing is scheduled for October 20.
The Port Authority then approved United’s maintenance hangar.
United Airlines says it will pay a $2.25 million fine but won’t be charged in connection with a special flight from Newark, New Jersey, that benefited the former head of the agency that runs the airport. United began those flights between Houston and Chicago in April 2014, but they were typically half full and United canceled the service that December.
A former high-ranking New Jersey official and airline lobbyist has been charged with conspiracy in a plot to help the former chairman of the agency that controls New York City-area airports get a regular flight to his vacation home.
Fishman’s announcement made no mention of the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal in 2013, which has ensnared several Christie allies.
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A month later, the New Jersey Assembly released the now-infamous email “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” from Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly.
