Sampson sent up the river

From AM-NY:

Former New York State Senate leader John Sampson was sentenced to 5 years in prison Wednesday for lying and obstructing justice to cover up his misuse of escrow money as a private lawyer.

Brooklyn U.S. District Judge Dora Irizarry also imposed a $75,000 fine on the former Democratic leader from Canarsie whose 2015 conviction was one in a string of corruption cases that have rocked Albany.

Sampson, 51, had allegedly misused $440,000 in escrow money to help finance a political campaign for district attorney in Brooklyn, then did favors for Edul Ahmad, a local businessman who gave him $188,000 to help cover up the misuse of funds.

He was not convicted of those charges but was convicted of lying to the FBI and recruiting a childhood friend, Sam Noel, who worked for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, as a mole to keep track of an investigation of Ahmad, who he feared might become an informant.

Sampson found guilty

From Crains:

A New York state senator has been convicted on federal charges he sought to sabotage an investigation targeting him for embezzlement.

A Brooklyn jury reached the verdict Friday in the corruption case against Sen. John Sampson.

He was found guilty of one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements.

He was acquitted on six other counts, including witness tampering.

Sampson not the smartest tweeder

From the Daily News:

State Sen. John Sampson coached a shady Queens businessman over drinks at an Italian restaurant in Mafia boss John Gotti’s old neighborhood, on how to fool the feds, it was revealed Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors played tapes secretly recorded inside Vetro restaurant in Howard Beach by star witness Edul Ahmad who had loaned Sampson $188,500 so the Brooklyn Democrat could repay foreclosure funds he had allegedly embezzled.

Ahmad was instructed by the FBI to show Sampson a check register documenting the loan. “This opens up a can of worms,” Sampson allegedly said at the Feb. 22, 2012 sit down. “Make sure you lose a couple of pages here and there…You don't have to give it to them.”

Speaking in a loud voice, Sampson advised Ahmad not to lie to the feds, but then whispered suggestions that he falsely claim the loan was payment for years of legal work that Sampson had performed for him.

Indicted pols continue to ask for reimbursements

From the Daily News:

Sen. Malcolm Smith, Sen. John Sampson and now former Assemblyman Eric Stevenson have more in common than just high-profile corruption arrests last year.

Arrests be damned, the three shameless pols kept putting in for travel expenses to Albany — known as per diems — paid out by the state, records provided by the state controller’s office show.

Smith, a Queens Democrat who once was in charge of the Senate, actually led the chamber last year with $21,372 in per-diem reimbursements despite the fact he was hit by the feds in April 2013 with charges of trying to buy Republican support in the Bronx and Queens to get him on the city mayoral ballot.

Sampson (D-Brooklyn) was fifth in the Senate in per-diem reimbursements, with $15,449. Sampson, who once led the chamber, regularly attends the legislative session, but is often seen on the phone outside the chamber when lawmakers are inside debating bills. He was arrested in May on federal embezzlement charges.

He also charged another $9,068 last year for travel expenses related to gas, mileage and tolls, records show.

On the Assembly side, Eric Stevenson, a Bronx Democrat who was charged in April 2013 with accepting $20,000 in cash bribes, received $19,271 in per-diems — the fourth-highest amount in the chamber last year. He also claimed another $5,952 in other travel expenses.

All three had something else in common. They each put in for per-diem reimbursements throughout the year, not just during the legislative session that ended in June.

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.

The sordid history of the Four Sparrow Marsh project

From the Daily News:

Construction on a project that includes a major car dealership has quietly started on a controversial piece of land in Mill Basin twice tied to scandal-scarred politicians who have tried to help developers buy the land from the city.

In April, the Bloomberg administration announced it had sold the 110,000-square-foot parcel near the Four Sparrow Marsh and the Belt Parkway to Brooklyn auto dealer Lilaahar (Sammy) Bical, owner of Kristal Auto Mall, one of the biggest Cadillac dealers on the East Coast.

Bical was helped in his bid to obtain the land after paying tainted state Sen. John Sampson (D-Canarsie) a $10,000 "retainer fee" to help arrange a sit-down with Bloomberg administration officials, the News reported last month.

Those meetings occurred in early 2012, and this past March the city sold him the land for $4.2 million.

Sampson and his lawyer, Zachary Carter, did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The FBI is investigating whether Sampson broke the law by seeking and receiving retainer fees from Bical, and another businessman, in an unrelated case, who sought his assistance in dealing with the government, sources said.

Originally, the city planned to sell the land to Forest City Ratner to build a mini mall. That plan was scuttled in September 2011 after a Forest City Ratner official was revealed to have asked disgraced former state Sen. Carl Kruger for state funds, according to a criminal complaint.

As part of the new deal, the city also sold Toys R Us the land it currently occupies for $13 million.

The first part of construction, which has just begun, entails carving out a spot for a new parking lot for the toy store, which park advocates charge is being built on protected marsh land. The expanded car dealership will later be built on the old Toys R Us parking lot, city officials said.

Conservation groups and park advocates plan to sue to block the city's sale of the land on the grounds that it lacked proper state approval.

Shirley says entire Senate is corrupt

From the Daily News:

Huntley said she agreed to become an informant — spying on pols using James Bond-like gadgets like a video camera hidden in a water bottle — to protect her family from being prosecuted along with her. And to those who condemn her betrayal, she offers a middle finger.

“I could care less what the politicians think about me,” Huntley, 74, told the Daily News in an exclusive interview. “They know what I say is true because they live it every day. Albany is a mess. It’s all about money and power. I don’t think most of them give a tinker’s damn about their constituents.”

Huntley is indeed unabashed.

“If John (Sampson) and Malcolm (Smith) would talk, oh my God,” she said provocatively. “They flip him (Sampson) and you’ll need a special election to elect a whole new damn Senate.”

Classic case of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"

From the Daily News:

For elected officials, it’s part of the job: assisting constituents with problems.

When some people sought the help of Brooklyn state Sen. John Sampson, he allegedly demanded that they hire him as their lawyer.

The FBI is investigating whether the Sampson broke the law by seeking and receiving retainer fees from at least two businessmen who sought his assistance in dealing with the government, the Daily News has learned.

In both cases, the FBI taped the businessmen discussing their involvement with Sampson, sources say.

Sources familiar with the investigation say a focus of their inquiry is the “retainer fees” Sampson has demanded for the kind of work that other elected officials typically perform as part of their jobs.

Sampson was once one of Albany’s most powerful politicians, rising to the top of the Senate’s leadership in 2009 after Democrats became a majority in the chamber. He lost power two years later when Democrats lost their control of the Senate.

And like dozens of other state legislators, Sampson works on the side as an attorney. His Senate biography notes he represents clients in “real estate, criminal and election matters.”

Neither Sampson nor his lawyer, Zachary Carter, responded to written questions about the retainer fees.

One of those questioned by the FBI, sources say, is Brooklyn auto dealer Lilaahar (Sammy) Bical, owner of Kristal Auto Mall, one of the biggest Cadillac dealers on the East Coast.

Last year the FBI confronted Bical about Sampson’s role in helping him eliminate hurdles blocking Bical’s plan to buy a city-owned plot on Flatbush Ave. near the Belt Parkway.

Bical wanted the land to expand his dealership. But he faced opposition from some local politicians, including then-Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), who was trying to help developer Bruce Ratner build a shopping mall on the same property (Kruger was later indicted in an unrelated case and is now in prison).

Seeking help, Bical turned to Sampson. The senator requested a $10,000 “retainer fee” up front, and Bical wrote the check, sources say. Soon after, Sampson arranged a sit-down with Bloomberg administration officials at City Hall.

Kristal Auto Mall on Kings Highway is owned by Sammy Bical, who allegedly paid Sen. John Sampson $10,000 for a an eventual sit-down meeting with the Bloomberg administration that led him to buy $4.2 million for a plot of land to expand the dealership.

A spokesman for the city Economic Development Corp., which oversaw the land sale, confirmed that Sampson “provided legal counsel to Mr. Bical at a certain point and did meet with EDC a few times.”

A city official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the meetings as “an awkward situation because he’s not just a lawyer — he’s also a senator.”

And lawyering while politicking is currently legal.

Lots more where they came from

From the NY Post:

Shady politicians and their backroom deals cost taxpayers at least $49,710,630.64 — enough cash to build two schools, bankroll the New York Islanders or pay for 100 new fire trucks — according to a Post analysis of documents relating to 15 city and state officials who’ve been jailed, indicted, censured or lost re-election bids under a cloud of suspicion since 2006.

The rogues gallery is led by former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who cost the state $36 million in pension-fund management fees after taking nearly $1 million in illegal gifts; ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada, who funneled $7 million to himself and family members through a Medicare-funded nonprofit; and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who cost taxpayers $103,000 in secret settlements after staffers accused him of sexual harassment.

The nearly $50 million tally doesn’t include bribes accepted or money embezzled from private entities, such as the $440,000 that state Sen. John Sampson allegedly raided from foreclosure escrow accounts he was appointed to oversee. It also doesn’t count taxpayer money that was promised but never doled out, such as the $80,000 in discretionary funds City Councilman Dan Halloran allegedly said he’d allocate to a dummy company in exchange for a bribe.

And the turkeys are...

From DNA Info:

She used a bum foot to lure politicians into a federal wire trap.

Last summer ex-Sen. Shirley Huntley secretly recorded seven elected officials, a former aide and a political operative in her South Jamaica home, inviting them over under the ruse that an injured foot made it difficult to travel, according to sources and a court document.

The nine caught on tape are state senators Eric Adams, Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Jose Peralta, John Sampson, Malcolm Smith and Velmanette Montgomery; City Councilman Ruben Wills; Melvin Lowe, a former political consultant; and Curtis Taylor, an ex-Smith press adviser, the court paper shows.

Eight are now targets of criminal investigations, Brooklyn federal prosecutors have said, but none of them have been accused of any wrongdoing.

Wills said in a statement that investigators told him that he is not the subject of a probe.

The names were revealed in a sentencing memorandum connected to Huntley's criminal case that was unsealed Wednesday afternoon.

Huntley, 74, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in January to mail fraud for siphoning $87,000 from a sham nonprofit. In the run-up to her sentencing, her lawyer submitted the memorandum seeking leniency, citing Huntley's cooperation with FBI agents looking into public corruption.

The memorandum had been under seal, but a judge ruled Tuesday that it should be made public after news outlets, including DNAinfo New York, made the request.

The document details how after being busted, Huntley met with federal agents over a six-month period and told them that she knew of corruption involving elected officials.

Huntley agreed to record certain officials she invited to her modest two-bedroom South Jamaica home, where she lived with her husband, a retired guidance counselor.

She lured the targets over by claiming her broken foot kept her incapacitated, according to sources. She also suffers from sciatica and regularly takes cortisone injections to reduce inflammation in her spine, according to the memorandum.

"She said she had a broken foot but she was wired up the whole time," said the source. "Nobody thought anything of it because she's an old lady."

All nine were recorded and photographed by federal agents, according to the memorandum.

Why do pols talk like they're in the mafia?

From the NY Post:

State Sen. John Sampson, of Brooklyn, was arrested by the FBI this morning and charged with embezzling $440,000 between 1998 and 2008, funneling some of the cash into his unsuccessful 2005 campaign to become Brooklyn district attorney — and chillingly using a mole in the federal prosecutor's office to try and identify witnesses against him so he could arrange to "take them out."

At a press conference announcing the veteran politician's arrest, Eastern District US Attorney Loretta Lynch revealed the disturbing allegations that Sampson had a Justice Department mole in her office to keep tabs on the criminal probe into his activities — and leak information about the identify of federal informants.

"He did attempt to trade on a personal relationship with an administrative employee [of the Justice Department]...to gain information," Lynch said this morning.

The feds charge that Sampson explained to an unnamed real estate associate that he was attempting to discover the identities of federal witnesses in the Brooklyn US Attorney's mortgage fraud probe into his activities.

In one ominous exchange, Sampson allegedly told the real estate associate that if they could learn the identity of the federal informants, that "Sampson could arrange to 'take them out,'" the feds said today.

That Brooklyn federal employee has since been terminated, but Lynch declined to offer details about an internal probe that followed — saying aspects of the investigation into Sampson's alleged wrongdoing is ongoing.

And the beat goes on...

From the NY Post:

Embattled state Sen. John Sampson of Brooklyn is set to turn himself in to authorities today after being ensnared in a bribery scandal involving former colleague-turned-rat Shirley Huntley, sources said.

Sampson told his aides over the weekend that he was preparing to surrender to the feds, reaching out to staffers to give them the news, the sources said.

The move comes after authorities last week revealed that wiretaps show an unnamed state senator — whom sources identified to The Post as Sampson — allegedly helped broker an illicit deal between Huntley and a cargo company at JFK Airport in March 2012.

As The Post revealed Saturday, the federal probe into allegedly crooked Queens and Brooklyn pols has already led to other investigations into Sampson and US Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-Queens).

According to sources, Sampson had approached Huntley — then a Democratic state senator from Queens — to intercede with the Port Authority to land the company more airport rental space. Huntley did — and netted a $1,000 bribe for her efforts, the feds said.

Shirley got the goods on other electeds

From the NY Times:

Soon after prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed last month that a New York State assemblyman had been secretly making audio and video recordings for law enforcement, other legislators began nervously joking that they could never be sure who else was taping them.

Little did they know.

On Friday, prosecutors disclosed that Shirley L. Huntley, when she was a Democratic state senator from Queens, had secretly recorded conversations with seven elected officials and two other people after she was confronted by the F.B.I. and asked about her alleged participation in criminal schemes involving embezzlement and bribery.

The revelation that Ms. Huntley was taping conversations suggested a widening dragnet in Albany: the spectacle of two sitting lawmakers — one a senator, the other an assemblyman — independently recording conversations at the behest of federal authorities.

The undercover work of the assemblyman, Nelson L. Castro, a Bronx Democrat who cooperated to avoid prosecution for perjury, helped federal prosecutors in Manhattan with an investigation that led to charges against another Bronx Democrat, Assemblyman Eric A. Stevenson, for accepting bribes. On Friday, prosecutors said in court papers that Ms. Huntley’s recordings of a senator and two other elected officials “did yield evidence useful to law enforcement authorities.”

The senator was not identified in the court documents, but a person with knowledge of the matter said the senator was John L. Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat and former Senate leader who has long been under investigation. Mr. Sampson has not been charged, and neither Mr. Sampson nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment.

You have to wonder why the others continue to talk to those under indictment.

Here come the Feds!

From the NY Post:

The feds are grilling state Senate Democratic insiders as part of an explosive probe into an alleged Aqueduct casino bid-rigging scandal, The Post has learned.

Investigators are asking questions about the roles of then-Senate Democratic leaders John Sampson and Malcolm Smith and others who were accused of helping the Aqueduct Entertainment Group (AEG) land a multibillion-dollar casino contract three years ago, sources said.

The state ultimately rescinded the contract in 2010 amid a state inspector general’s probe into claims of favoritism. The IG’s office referred its scathing findings to federal authorities for potential prosecution.

The state subsequently selected Genting, an international gambling firm, to operate the Aqueduct slots casino.

It’s the second federal probe targeting Sampson. The Post last week reported that the former Senate minority leader is linked to a broader federal investigation into Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks and a convicted real estate developer, Edul Ahmad.

Smith, who has talked about running for mayor on the Republican line, also is being targeted as part of the Meeks inquiry, a law-enforcement official said.

Great timing

From the Daily News:

The top aide to embattled Brooklyn state Sen. John Sampson has resigned — in the nick of time.

Paul Rivera’s departure took effect Tuesday, sources said, three days before it was revealed Sampson was under criminal investigation by the FBI for allegedly accepting improper payments from a real estate agent who pleaded guilty in October to a $14 million mortgage fraud.

The timing raised eyebrows in Albany. But Senate insiders said Rivera’s resignation had nothing to do with the probe. He had been talking privately about leaving his job as special adviser for some time, the insiders said, and decided to do so after Sampson lost his position as head of the Senate Democratic conference in mid-December.

Sampson under investigation

From the NY Post:

The feds have launched a criminal probe of former state Senate Democratic Majority Leader John Sampson of Brooklyn, The Post has learned.

The inquiry focusing on Sampson’s campaign fund-raising stems from a broader federal probe into Queens Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks, sources said.

Shady real-estate broker Edul Ahmad is the common link that drew the feds from Meeks to Sampson, said sources familiar with the investigation.

Ahmad was embroiled in a congressional ethics probe for giving Meeks a secret $40,000 loan believed to have been a gift.

More important, Ahmad pleaded guilty in October in a separate, $14 million mortgage-fraud scheme.

But his sentencing date has not been scheduled and the defendant is now cooperating with the feds and possibly singing about Meeks and Sampson, sources said.

Sampson should stay off the roads

From the NY Post:

State Senate Minority Leader John Sampson isn’t exactly the guy you want teaching driver’s ed.

The Brooklyn Democrat piled up 23 parking and traffic violations over 30 months on his state cars — before crashing his government-issued Ford Taurus in the predawn hours last Friday, The Post has learned.

Senate records show that Sampson paid $1,820 in all to New York City and Albany for six red-light violations, a half-dozen no-parking or no-standing infractions, five bus-lane violations, three parking-meter violations and three instances of being caught with his registration sticker missing.

Senate Minority Leader vs. "cat"

From the NY Post:

State Senate Minority Leader John Sampson smashed up his brand-new, state-owned car in a predawn crash in Brooklyn yesterday.

Sampson, who was alone, wasn’t hurt and no criminality was suspected in the accident, which was reported at 3:13 a.m., cops said.

Four unoccupied cars that were parked along 108th Street near Flatlands Third Street in Canarsie were also damaged when Sampson’s 2012 black Ford Taurus collided with one of them, setting off a chain reaction, according to the NYPD.

The powerful Brooklyn Democrat said he was driving to his district office to do some work when he swerved to avoid an animal in the road.

“A cat or something ran out in front of me, and I swerved to miss it, and I got into an accident,” he told The Post after arriving at his apartment last night.

Sampson, 47, had also planned to work out at a gym at about 6 a.m. and then spend a full day in court in connection with his private law practice, said his spokesman, Mike Murphy.

The crash scene is about six blocks from Sampson’s home and about a mile from his district office.

Murphy said that Sampson called 911 three times to report the mishap before cops arrived and that he remained at the scene.

Sampson wasn’t given a Breathalyzer test, and his car, which sustained “substantial damage,” had to be towed away, Murphy added.

Yeah, I always go into work at 3am. Don't you?

Sampson gone as Senate minority leader

From the Daily News:

Senate Minority Leader John Sampson should enjoy the rest of the year — because his tenure as the chamber’s top Democrat is likely to end at the start of 2013.

Senate Democratic insiders say there is virtually no chance Sampson will return as leader should the Dems capture the majority in the fall elections. And there is little likelihood he will be retained as Dem boss if the effort falls short.

“The writing is on the wall,” one said.

Sampson (D-Brooklyn) is personally well-regarded by Democrats and many Senate GOPers.

But this isn’t personal — it’s politics.

His leadership has come under fire after a string of head-scratching decisions that left many Dems angry and embarrassed.

In December, he selected controversial lawyer Ravi Batra as the Senate minority's sole representative on the state ethics commission despite outcry from his rank-and-file.

The last straw likely came when Sampson recently decided to give his top aide a $50,000-a-year raise. A number of his members exploded after learning about it in the Daily News — and the pay hike was quickly rescinded.

“These bad decisions on top of other ones he made basically made it clear that John can’t be the leader,” one high-ranking Dem said bluntly.

Meanwhile, a breakaway group of four Democrats who formed their own independent caucus have indicated they will not return if Sampson remains. (The four will be needed to return to the fold if the Dems have any chance of retaking the majority.)

Who would succeed Sampson in the fractured caucus isn’t clear.

Pols make bad staffing decisions

Paul Rivera is holding the box above.

From the Daily News:

A special adviser to state Senate Democratic Minority Leader John Sampson is set to see his $80,000 salary jump to $130,000 a year — and he won’t even have to work full time.

Paul Rivera’s incredible $50,000 bump — a 62.5% increase in his pay — comes after the Senate Democrats laid off more than 300 staffers during the past 17 months, sources said.

The raise will be retroactive to Feb. 16, but the real kicker is that Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat, allowed Rivera to keep a special designation so he won’t have to work the 35-hour weeks required of most Senate staffers.

Instead, he can clock in for as little as 25 hours a week in his state job, freeing up time for campaign work, the sources added.

From the Daily News:

Paul Rivera, a top aide to Senate Minority Leader John Sampson, will not be getting his $50,000 a year raise after all.

“Mr. Rivera, who had voluntarily taken a significant pay cut in 2011, has agreed to forego the restoration of his previous salary,” a Senate Democratic spokesman said in a terse statement.

Insiders said that Sampson was under great pressure from several of his members who were upset after they learned about the raise Wednesday from a Daily News report.



From the NY Post:

City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez today fired his cop-hating spokesman David Segal, hours after The Post revealed that Segal had served time in a federal prison for torching an Army recruitment center in The Bronx, council sources said.

Rodriguez's dismissal of Segal came a day after the Democratic Manhattan councilman repeatedly ducked Post reporters trying to ask him about what he knew about Segal's terrorist past, and when he knew it.

Segal, 26, is a native of leafy Litchfield, Conn., who was hired as Rodriguez's spokesman last March even after disclosing the arrest to Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s office, which conducts the background checks, sources said.

In January 2005, Segal threw a burning rag into the Parkchester recruitment center — and was carrying a note that described a “wave of violence” targeting military complexes in the Northeast.

Before he started a six-month sentence at Fort Dix, he described, in an online rant, his arresting officers as “pigs” who asked a bunch of “dumb questions.”

Segal served six months in federal prison and four months’ house arrest. He was on probation for another three years and ordered to pay more than $4,100 in fines and restitution.

Segal — who also has three prior busts for civil disobedience, including one last month — reiterated his anti-war stance when asked yesterday about the arrest.