Almost never in the FCPA world do you see an announcement as stark as the one delivered this week by United-Continental Airlines around the immediate resignation of the now-former Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek. A company release stated: “The departures announced today are in connection with the company’s previously disclosed internal investigation related to the federal investigation associated with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The investigations are ongoing and the company continues to cooperate with the government.”
This resignation came out of the Bridgegate scandal from New Jersey, although it was not related to the original claim that the New Jersey Governor’s office ordered the closing of certain traffic lanes around Fort Lee, N.J. to punish the mayor for not supporting Gov. Chris Christie as he ran for re-election. Smisek resigned over an airline flight from Newark to Columbia, South Carolina. The flight was reported to be a money-losing route, yet it was reinstated by United at either the request of the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Sampson, or was reinstated by United to obtain a benefit from Sampson.
