NEWARK, N.J. _ David Samson, a former top adviser to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, pleaded guilty Thursday to one federal corruption charge.
He admitted using his power as chairman of the Port Authority to pressure United Airlines into resuming a route between Newark Liberty International Airport and an airport in Columbia, S.C., that would make travel to his nearby vacation home more convenient.
Samson, 76, of Aiken, S.C., was released on a $100,000 unsecured bond and surrendered his passport. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 20. The plea deal offers a sentence of probation to a maximum of 24 months in prison. Under the statute of the corruption charge, he could have faced 10 years in prison.
According to court testimony, United was seeking Port Authority approval in 2011 of a new hanger at Newark Liberty. Even after the Port Authority had reviewed the idea favorably, Samson removed the proposal from the agency's agenda. When Samson learned United would operate the South Carolina route, he allowed the proposal to move forward, according to court testimony this morning.
Samson said he took the nonstop flight 27 times between October 2012 and January 2014. The route ran every Thursday evening and Monday morning to accommodate Samson, according to court testimony.
Asked by U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares if Samson referred to the route as the "Chairman's Flight," Samson responded: "Yes, sir."
United shut down the route after Samson resigned from the Port Authority.
Prosecutors had been investigating Samson in the aftermath of the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal, which erupted in 2014.
In September 2015, United ousted its CEO and two other top officials after conducting an internal investigation into the South Carolina route.
Christie, a Republican, remained steadfast in his support of his mentor. "David's a friend," Christie said in a radio interview after the United officials were fired. "I find all of this hard to believe."
When Samson resigned from the Port Authority in March 2014, Christie told reporters he had "every faith and trust and confidence in David's integrity, as do people on both sides of the aisle in this state over the course of the past 40 years."
Samson was New Jersey's attorney general in the early 2000s under Gov. Jim McGreevey, a Democrat. Samson led Christie's transition team in 2009 after Christie defeated Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine.
