Sampson earmark missing-$39,560

State officials can't account for $39,560 in taxpayer money that Sen. John Sampson steered to a now-defunct Brooklyn charity, the leader of which opened a liquor store with the powerful legislator several months later.

The exact financial relationship between Sampson, who until last year led the Senate Democratic Conference, and Edmon Braithwaite is unclear. But Sampson noted he became a "shareholder" in a liquor store Braithwaite owns in 2011, according to a disclosure form. The State Liquor Authority refused a Times Union request for details on the store because "disclosure of the information and documents requested would interfere with an ongoing investigation."

Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat, was charged earlier this month with embezzling $440,000 from mortgage accounts and then threatening to "take ... out" potential witnesses against a business associate. He pleaded not guilty. Federal prosecutors said the case against him is ongoing; they also revealed Sampson was taped by a former colleague, ex-Sen. Shirley Huntley, at the direction of the FBI. Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, would not answer specific questions about Braithwaite, Sampson, or the liquor store. "The case against Senator Sampson is pending and the investigation is ongoing," Nardoza said.

Sampson's spokesman Mike Roberts said the senator relinquished his stake in Braithwaite's liquor store — Gateway Wine and Spirits in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood — earlier this year, and said questions about it were "moot." Roberts said no law enforcement officials had inquired about the matter.

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