Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Corrupt Albany pols seem to like liquor

From The Politicker:

Brooklyn State Senator John Sampson, already facing corruption charges, is facing a new set of allegations from federal prosecutors this afternoon involving lying and a local liquor store.

The U.S. Attorney’s office today announced that Mr. Sampson, who once led the Senate Democrats, is accused of “making false statements to FBI agents about directing members of his Senate staff to take actions to benefit a Brooklyn liquor store in which Sampson secretly held an ownership interest.”

According to prosecutors, Mr. Sampson was recorded hiding his stake in an unnamed liquor store in its license application.

“During a series of telephone calls that were captured on the Sampson Wiretap, the defendant … told the Partners that [his] ownership interest should not be disclosed in the Application” today’s indictment reads.

Mr. Sampson was also recorded instructing an anonymous government staffer to help the store deal with outstanding tax obligations. The senator even appeared to be aware of the potential illegalities involved, telling the staffer to “do it on your own cell phone and do it on your own time.”

He is further accused of lying about these incidents and others when speaking to federal agents.


From the NY Post:

Over whiskey-soaked meetings in Atlantic City hotel suites and pricey New York steakhouses, disgraced Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. merrily sold off the perks of his office for cash, prosecutors said Monday as his corruption trial opened in Brooklyn federal court.

The self-coronated “king of Brownsville” offered up everything from profitable real estate development deals to street carnival permits in exhange for payola, according to the feds.

“This is a case about money and power and how the defendant, William Boyland Jr., abused that power to get money,” assistant US Attorney Robert Capers said.

Despite representing a downtrodden area in dire need of political vision as opposed to vice, Boyland Jr. hungrily sought out personal benefit at the expense of his constituents, Capers said.

“He had the power to bring change to his community,” he said. “But all he wanted to do was get money.”

With his legal fees from a separate Manhattan case piling up, Boyland Jr. demanded $250,000 from an agent posing as a real estate honcho in 2011 and promised access to a distressed property in return, prosecutors said.

The political scion also stuck out his palm to another man posing as a carnival operator who wanted a permit for a Brownsville event, papers state.

The assemblyman even fleeced taxpayers by cashing in expense checks for Albany related business that never took place, prosecutors said.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another corrupt pol.....what else is new?

Anonymous said...

Through regulation we've made turned these little men and women into kings and queens that show favor upon their political donors. It will always be "pay to play" as long as the government controls the "play". It's the system. People like Sampson as as inevitable as weeds.

Anonymous said...

Dumb voters keep electing political dynasties.

J said...

dumb voters keep electing people they are familiar with and are suckers for charming scoundrels.