The subpoena from Mr. Fishman’s office sought records related to two bridge contracts the Port Authority awarded last April, one for $1.5 billion to replace and maintain the Goethals Bridge, and the other in a $1.3 billion project to raise the Bayonne Bridge so that the largest container ships could pass beneath it, one of the people said.
A lawyer for Mr. Samson, Michael Chertoff, declined to answer specific questions, saying through a spokeswoman, “We are not commenting on any investigations.”
Mr. Samson’s law firm did not return a call seeking comment.
The subpoena seeks records relating to the bidding for the contracts, the selection process, any disclosures of potential conflicts or recusals involving Mr. Samson, and his communications with Port Authority staff on the issue, the person said.
It also seeks documents related to any contracts awarded to clients of Wolff & Samson, the person said. The subpoena indicates that the prosecutor handling the investigation is Lee M. Cortes, an assistant United States attorney in the Special Prosecution Division, which handles public corruption cases.
Mr. Cortes is one of three or four prosecutors who, along with F.B.I. agents and several criminal investigators from the United States attorney’s office, have been handling the lane closing inquiry and related investigations.
One of the Goethals Bridge contracts awarded by the Port Authority went to Macquarie Infrastructure Company, which owns a 50 percent interest in a business that has long been a client of Wolff & Samson. The client, IMTT, owns a liquid storage facility on the Bayonne waterfront.
Mr. Samson and his fellow commissioners also voted to award roughly half of the $1.3 billion Bayonne Bridge project to a joint venture that included Skanska, according to a news release the company issued announcing the contract at the time. Skanska was also a Wolff & Samson client.
Mr. Samson and the two construction companies, which both are prominent contractors, have not been formally accused of any wrongdoing, and officials have not publicly suggested that the bid process was tainted.
Minutes of the April 2013 Port Authority board meeting show that Mr. Samson did not recuse himself from either vote.
you can read the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/nyregion/us-prosecutors-in-new-jersey-sought-port-authority-records-on-bridge-contracts.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0
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