A New York state senator from Brooklyn was charged Monday with stealing proceeds from sales of foreclosed properties to finance a failed run for district attorney, prosecutors said, making him the state’s latest politician to face federal criminal charges.

John Sampson, 47, a Democrat who has represented southeastern Brooklyn since 1997, was charged with nine counts including embezzlement, obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators, according to an indictment unsealed Monday.

Sampson, a practicing attorney for more than two decades, turned himself in and was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court Monday afternoon. He pleaded not guilty, and was released on a $250,000 bond.

In April, U.S. attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan charged state Sen. Malcolm Smith with attempting to buy a spot on New York City’s mayoral ballot. Several days later, Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was charged in an alleged bribery scheme.

Loretta Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said at a press conference that Sampson abused the public trust to further his own political ambitions “in one of the most extreme examples of political hubris we’ve yet seen.”

According to the indictment, Sampson served as a court-appointed referee in foreclosure proceedings in Brooklyn state court beginning in the late 1990s. In that position, he helped oversee sales of foreclosed properties and controlled escrow accounts containing proceeds from those sales.

Lynch alleged that Sampson embezzled $440,000 from escrow accounts in at least four properties in Brooklyn between 1998 and 2008. Prosecutors said he used the money to help pay expenses for his unsuccessful 2005 bid to unseat incumbent Brooklyn district attorney Charles Hynes in the Democratic primary.

Hynes narrowly edged out Sampson that year to win a fifth term.

Sampson later borrowed money from an unnamed associate in the real-estate industry to help repay some of the stolen money, prosecutors said. They said that when that associate was charged with a mortgage fraud scheme in 2011, Sampson tried to keep him from cooperating with authorities, and later solicited an unnamed administrative employee in the Brooklyn federal prosecutor’s office to give him information about that case.

If convicted, Sampson faces up to 10 years on each of the two embezzlement counts, 10 years on one count of obstruction of justice, 20 years on four separate obstruction-of-justice charges and up to five years on two counts of lying to federal agents.

Prosecutors said that they have proposed a plea deal that would recommend Sampson receive a sentence of between 37 and 46 months in prison, in exchange for Sampson pleading guilty to one count of embezzlement and one count of obstruction of justice.

Sampson’s next court appearance is scheduled for June 18.

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A Brooklyn man who forced his daughter into an arranged marriage in Pakistan was arrested on charges of visa fraud and communicating threats. (Credit: Getty Images)

A Brooklyn cabdriver who forced his daughter into an arranged marriage in Pakistan may be responsible for ordering the murder of two relatives in Pakistan on Monday, federal authorities say.

Amina Ajmal, 22, says she was held against her will in Pakistan for three years and forced to marry a Pakistani man, The New York Times reported. Ajmal was able to escape last month to a secret location in the U.S. with the help of the American Embassy. But when she spoke with her father on the phone, he demanded that she return to their home in Flatbush and that if she didn’t, he would arrange for her relatives in Pakistan to be killed.

Pakistani police reported on Monday that two of Ajmal’s relatives had been shot to death and another had been injured.

Mohammad Ajmal Choudhry, 60, was arrested outside of his home on Monday and charged with communicating threats and visa fraud. He appeared in court on Tuesday and was held without bail.

Prosecutors said the mother of one of the victims in Pakistan identified Choudhry’s brother as the shooter.

Ajmal said she was held in Pakistan under death threats and forced to marry a Pakistani man, according to a complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Choudhry was charged with filing a fraudulent visa application for his daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, and her groom, who lives in Pakistan and was trying to earn legal status into the U.S.

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