US Senator Sampson ‘thought he was above the law’ - Prosecutor

US Senator Sampson ‘thought he was above the law’ – Prosecutor

Jun 25, 2015 News

(New York (New York Daily News) -Brooklyn state Sen. John Sampson is a corrupt lawyer and lawmaker “who thought he was above the law,” a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.

Brooklyn state Sen. John Sampson (l) on his way to court.

Brooklyn state Sen. John Sampson on his way to court.

Sampson is charged in a nine-count indictment with trying to cover up his alleged embezzlement of funds related to outside legal work.
“He stole hundreds of thousands of dollars and when he thought he was going to get caught, he lied and tried to obstruct justice to get away with his crimes,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Seifan said in her opening statement in Brooklyn Federal Court.
When Sampson became concerned that the funds he allegedly embezzled from foreclosure accounts as a court-appointed referee was going to be discovered, “he doubled down and committed new crimes to cover up the old ones,” Seifan told the jury.
Although Sampson is not charged with embezzlement or bribery, the Prosecutor contended that he had committed both crimes.
The government’s chief witness, Edul Ahmad, will testify that he loaned Sampson $188,500 to partially cover the theft of funds, and was repaid with political favors.
Ahmad, a former cop in Guyana and Queens real estate businessman who has pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud, secretly taped Sampson instructing him to keep the loan a secret, Seifan said.
In his zeal to find out who might be ratting out Ahmad or himself to the feds, Sampson’s “fatal mistake” was not knowing that the FBI had flipped Ahmad, Seifan said.
Sampson is also charged with allegedly lying to FBI agents and trying to weasel confidential information about the federal probe from a childhood friend, Sam Noel, who was a paralegal in the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s office. Noel was arrested and will testify against Sampson.
Defence lawyer Nick Akerman vigorously pushed back at the government, conceding that Sampson committed some “ethical lapses” but no federal crimes.
Akerman argued that his client was entrapped by Ahmad at the government’s direction and “many reasonable doubts lurk in the evidence.”
“Even though the government is going to insist John Sampson is corrupt, the reality is, there are no political corruption charges…even though the government wishes that there were.”
Sampson faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted.
Akerman also prepared the jurors for an inflammatory statement they may hear from Ahmad about a suggestion to get rid of snitches.
The lawyer emphatically noted that Sampson laughed and replied, “We ain’t killing nobody! What are you talking about?”