Jesse Ward/Jesse Ward for New York Daily Ne
State Senator John Sampson was slapped with a new federal indictment Monday charging him with lying to FBI agents about a liquor store in which the Brooklyn Democrat was a secret partner.
STATE SEN. John Sampson was slapped with a new federal indictment Monday charging him with lying to FBI agents about a liquor store in which the Brooklyn Democrat was a secret partner.
The State Liquor Authority application for Gateway Wines & Spirits on Fulton St. in Bedford Stuyvesant did not list Sampson’s name, and he was intercepted on a wiretap advising his partners that his ownership interest should not be disclosed, according to papers unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
RELATED: SAMPSON REVEALS SEPARATION FROM WIFE, LUCRATITIVE ASSET
Sampson also instructed a member of his senate staff to lobby state Department of Taxation and Finance officials to reduce the outstanding debt owed when the liquor store was purchased from the previous owner, according to the indictment.
Sampson directed the unidentified staffer, who was not aware of his ownership interest in the liquor store, to help his partner “negotiate the amount down a little bit,” the indictment alleges.
RELATED: DEMOCRATIC SENATORS ON HOOK FOR PARTY’S 2010 ELECTION DEBT
He also advised the staff member to “do it on your cell phone and do it on your own time.”
When FBI agents questioned Sampson outside his home on July 27, 2012, he denied participating in the liquor store scheme. “After being advised whether he wished to revise his statement, Sampson stated, ‘Not everything I told you was false,’” according to the indictment.
RELATED: BROOKLYN ASSEMBLYMAN WILLIAM BOYLAND CAN’T EVEN SPELL
“We will respond fully to the charge brought today in the course of the proceedings to follow,” said Sampson’s lawyer Joshua Colangelo-Bryan. “We can, however, state categorically that Senator Sampson has not betrayed the public’s trust while acting as an elected public official.”
Sampson’s ownership interest in Gateway was first reported by the Daily News last May.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on the superseding indictment. The new false statement charges carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Sampson already faced five years in prison for embezzling monies from foreclosure sales he oversaw as a court-appointed referee. Sampson, a lawyer, allegedly siphoned some of the money into his 2005 Democratic primary campaign against then-Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.
Yahoo Local News – New York Daily News
http://ift.tt/1bXhuRc
via Great Local News: New York http://ift.tt/1iZiLP1
No comments:
Post a Comment