United Continental Holdings, the parent company of United Airlines, paid $2.4 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges involving United’s reinstating a nonstop flight between Newark, New Jersey, and Columbia, South Carolina, in 2011 at the behest of David Samson, the then-chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. According to the SEC, United circumvented its standard process for initiating new routes, and no corporate record at United accurately and fairly reflected the authorization to approve the route, which ultimately lost approximately $945,000.