Ex-Port Authority Chairman David Samson Sues To Block Ethics Probe

TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop an ethics inquiry against him and his law firm.

David Samson asserts that the New Jersey State Ethics Commission has no jurisdiction over his former role at the Port Authority because it's a bistate agency.

Samson is a former New Jersey state attorney general who was put in charge of the powerful Port Authority by Gov. Chris Christie.

Samson resigned that post earlier this year amid questions about whether he used it to help his law firm's clients, although he said he planned to step away anyway.

According to published reported, Samson's law firm handled a 2012 deal for NJ TRANSIT to pay the Port Authority $1 a year to lease space for a park-and-ride lot near the Lincoln Tunnel.

Other published reports earlier this year alleged Samson was the target of subpoenas by the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey over contracts related to large-scale projects at the Goethals and Bayonne bridges.

Samson says in a court filing made Monday that the state ethics commission sent him requests for information in June and October and a subpoena in October.

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