New York governor reportedly in prostitution ring

[celeb_2006]

N.Y. governor apologizes after prostitution link - Politics - MSNBC.com

(he's "sorry" if he offended anyone, sniff, let the "healing" begin, crocodile tears alert)

NEW YORK - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has told senior advisers that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, The New York Times reported Monday, citing an anonymous top administration official.
Spitzer, who is married with three daughters, was scheduled to make an announcement Monday afternoon. Spitzer officials wouldn’t immediately comment on the story.
The Times reported that a person with knowledge of the governor’s role believes the governor is identified as a client in court papers. Four people allegedly connected to a high-end prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP were arrested last week.
The Web site of the Emperors Club VIP displays photographs of scantily clad women with their faces hidden, along with hourly rates depending on whether the prostitutes were rated with one diamond, the lowest ranking, or seven diamonds, the highest. The most highly ranked prostitutes cost $5,500 an hour, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the defendants arranged connections between wealthy men and more than 50 prostitutes in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris.
The Times reported that the governor’s travel records show he was in Washington in mid-February, and that one of the clients arranged to meet with a prostitute on the night of Feb. 13.
The case is being handled by prosecutors in the Public Corruption unit of U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia’s office. Garcia spokeswoman Yusill Scribner said the office had no comment.
Spitzer, 48, built his political legacy on rooting out corruption, including several headline-making battles with Wall Street while serving as attorney general. He stormed into the governor’s office in 2006 with a historic share of the vote, vowing to continue his no-nonsense approach to fixing one of the nation’s worst governments.
Time magazine had named him “Crusader of the Year” when he was attorney general and the tabloids proclaimed him “Eliot Ness.”
But his stint as governor has been marred by several problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear Spitzer’s main Republican nemesis.
Spitzer had been expected to testify to the state Public Integrity Commission he had created to answer for his role in the scandal, in which his aides were accused of misusing state police to compile travel records to embarrass Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno.
Spitzer had served two terms as attorney general where he pursued criminal and civil cases and cracked down on misconduct and conflicts of interests on Wall Street and in corporate America. He had previously been a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, handling organized crime and white-collar crime cases.
His cases as state attorney general included a few criminal prosecutions of prostitution rings and into tourism involving prostitutes.
In 2004, he was part of an investigation of an escort service in New York City that resulted in the arrest of 18 people on charges of promoting prostitution and related charges.

[Just Kill Me]

I wouldn't have a problem with public officials fucking whores if they weren't such hypocrites.

[msdeb]

ha! i forgot about the illegals getting drivers license deal. What a fucknut.

[Str8_uncut-jock]

Spitz or swallows? Guess we answered that question.

[LynnieD]

This guy is NOT well liked by the majority of the State right now. He's made some really bad choices his first few months in office. Not making any friends...

This obviously won't help. Not that I care.

[ManxMouse]

W.T.F.

If this is true, what a total 'tard. You're the top law enforcement official in the state, if you want some strange, how about doing it LEGALLY? Guess it's true that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[witchcurlgirl]

I'm in NYC, and the news just reported that the escort service referred to him as "Client 9 inches"

[ManxMouse]

Originally Posted by witchcurlgirl

I'm in NYC, and the news just reported that the escort service referred to him as "Client 9 inches"

Ho-lee shit. Methinks Spitzer just put the last nail in the coffin of his career.

[sluce]

His poor 3 daughters. They did nothing to deserve the shit their father has brought into their lives now.

[Buffy Burnett]

What a scuzbag.

[Dixie Normos]

So he admitted to a crime? Has he been charged yet?

[A*O]

You know it's true when you see his wife standing grimly by during the news conference LOL

[LynnieD]

Yea, that news conference was pretty funny. Poor woman.

He didn't actually admit to the hooker thing, but said he was associated with it.

He's done.

[ingi]

The prostitution ring, identified in court papers as the Emperors Club VIP, arranged connections between wealthy men and more than 50 prostitutes in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris, prosecutors said. Four people allegedly connected to the high-end ring were arrested last week.

The club's Web site displays photographs of scantily clad women with their faces hidden. It also shows hourly rates depending on whether the prostitutes were rated with one diamond, the lowest ranking, or seven diamonds, the highest. The most highly ranked prostitutes cost $5,500 an hour, prosecutors said.

One of those arrested, Temeka Rachelle Lewis, told a prostitute identified only as "Kristen" that she should take a train from New York to Washington for an encounter with Client No. 9 on the night of Feb. 13, according to an affidavit. Click here to read the affidavit.

Lewis said the client would be "paying for everything -- train tickets, cab fare from the hotel and back, mini bar or room service, travel time and hotel," the court papers said. The client paid $4,300 in cash to the service.

The prostitute, described in the complaint as a "petite, pretty brunette, 5-feet-5 inches and 105 pounds," met the client at about 10 p.m., according to the complaint. Lewis asked Kristen how she thought the appointment went, and she said that she thought it went very well.

In a conversation with the booking agent, Kristen said that she liked the client and that she did not think he was difficult, according to the papers.

The agent said she had been told the client "would ask you to do things that ... you might not think were safe ... very basic things," according to the papers, but that Kristen responded by saying, "I have a way of dealing with that ... I'd be, like, listen dude, you really want the sex?"

The scandal was first reported on The New York Times' Web site.

Spitzer spoke hours later. Stunned lawmakers gathered around televisions at the state Capitol in Albany to watch, and a media mob gathered outside the office of Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who would become governor if Spitzer was to resign. It took opponents only minutes to call for his resignation.

"Today's news that Eliot Spitzer was likely involved with a prostitution ring and his refusal to deny it leads to one inescapable conclusion: He has disgraced his office and the entire state of New York," said Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco. "He should resign his office immediately."

Spitzer, 48, built his political reputation on rooting out corruption, including several headline-making battles with Wall Street while serving as attorney general. He stormed into the governor's office in 2006 with a historic share of the vote, vowing to continue his no-nonsense approach to fixing one of the nation's worst governments.

Time magazine had named him "Crusader of the Year" when he was attorney general and the tabloids proclaimed him "Eliot Ness."

But his term as governor has been marred by problems, including an unpopular plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and a plot by his aides to smear Spitzer's main Republican nemesis. Source: Spitzer ID'd As 'Client 9' In Court Papers - News Story - WNBC | New York

[NicoleWasHere]

Not surprised. What an asshole, doing that to his family.