New York State Senator John Sampson was arrested by the FBI on Monday morning, charged with embezzling $440,000 between 1998 and 2008, funneling some of the cash into his unsuccessful 2005 campaign to become Brooklyn district attorney, the New York Post reported. He also allegedly used a mole in the federal prosecutor's office to try and identify witnesses against him so he could arrange to "take them out," reports said.
Easter District US Attorney Loretta Lynch revealed 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 on Monday morning.
The criminal charges against Sampson, who sat on the state Senate's Ethics and Judiciary committees, "has undermined the public trust in their elected representatives, causing people to become more cynical," Lynch said at the press conference.
Lynch said the underlying ethos behind his alleged illegal conduct was his selfishness.
"The fact that he was trying to become the top state prosecutor in this borough shows the extreme arrogance and hubris" that appears to pervade Sampson's character. "It's all about him," the prosecutor charged.
Lynch said the embezzlement scheme stemmed from Sampson's work as an attorney who also served as the court-appointed referee over foreclosure proceeding in the Brooklyn Supreme Court.
Sampson is charged with embezzling some $440,000 from the foreclosure sale of four properties in Brooklyn.
Lynch said Sampson also allegedly stole $188,500 from a real estate associates after promising to pay the loan money back, the feds say.
After the feds began probing this alleged incident, Sampson allegedly tried to discourage from cooperating with investigators and encouraged the person to lie, George Venizelos, the head of the FBI's New York office, said.
