New York RegionSpitzer Is Linked to a Sex Ring as Client
By DANNY HAKIM and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: March 11, 2008
Gov. Eliot Spitzer was a client of a high-end prostitution ring broken up last week by federal authorities, according to law enforcement officials.
ALBANY — Gov. Eliot Spitzer was a client of a high-end prostitution ring broken up last week by federal authorities, according to law enforcement officials, a development that threatened to end his career and turned the state’s political world upside down.
Mr. Spitzer’s involvement with the prostitution operation came to light in court papers filed last week, the officials said, as federal prosecutors charged four people with operating the service, Emperor’s Club V.I.P. Mr. Spitzer was caught on a federal wiretap discussing payments and arranging to meet a prostitute in a Washington hotel room last month. The affidavit, which did not identify Mr. Spitzer by name, indicated that he had used the prostitution service before, although it was not clear how often.
Mr. Spitzer, 48, appeared briefly with his wife at his Manhattan office to apologize, but did not specifically address any involvement with the ring. He said he needed to repair his relationship with his family and decide what was best for the state, but he declined to take questions, leaving after barely a minute.
The governor, a Democrat in his first term, then returned to his Fifth Avenue apartment and remained there on Monday night, receiving counsel from his advisers and weighing a possible resignation, an aide said.
The New York Times began investigating Mr. Spitzer’s possible involvement with a prostitution ring on Friday, the day after the prosecutors arrested the four people on charges of helping run the Emperor’s Club. After inquiries from The Times over the weekend and on Monday, the governor canceled his public schedule. An hour after The Times published a report on its Web site saying Mr. Spitzer had been linked to the ring, the governor made his statement.
The news was met with disbelief and shock in Albany, a capital accustomed to scandal. Some legislative assistants said they were too stunned to speak, and lawmakers gathered around television sets in hushed offices, trying to make sense of what had happened.
Mr. Spitzer has not been charged with a crime. But one law enforcement official who has been briefed on the case said that Mr. Spitzer’s lawyers would probably meet soon with federal prosecutors to discuss any possible legal exposure. The official said the discussions were likely to focus not on prostitution, but on how it was paid for: Whether the payments from Mr. Spitzer to the service were made in a way to conceal their purpose and source. That could amount to a crime called structuring, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.
By 10:30 on Monday morning, it was clear in Albany that something was wrong. Mr. Spitzer’s office abruptly canceled a speech to a family planning conference, about a half-hour before he was scheduled to ascend the podium. The governor also canceled a private meeting with Cardinal Edward M. Egan, at first sending word that Mr. Paterson would stand in for him, and then abandoning the session altogether.
The governor learned that he had been implicated in the prostitution inquiry when a federal official contacted his office on Friday, according to the person briefed on the case. On Saturday night, he attended the Gridiron Club annual dinner, a political roast put on by Washington journalists, and appeared ebullient, according to people in attendance.
The governor informed his top aides on Sunday night and Monday morning of his involvement.
Mr. Spitzer’s family and his top assistants debated Monday morning at Mr. Spitzer’s apartment about whether he should step down, a person who spoke to the governor said. Silda Wall Spitzer, who was among them, told her husband that he should not resign in haste; as did Lloyd Constantine, a senior adviser and a longtime friend of the governor. But most of his others saw no way for him to survive.
Dietrich L. Snell, a lawyer who has represented Mr. Spitzer in the past, did not return telephone and e-mail messages Monday.
According to prosecutors, the Emperor’s Club provided women to clients in London, Paris, Miami and other cities, and charged them between $1,000 and $5,500 an hour.
The affidavit details a Feb. 13 encounter between a prostitute named Kristen and a man described as “Client 9,” whom law enforcement officials identified as Mr. Spitzer. Mr. Spitzer traveled to Washington that evening, according to a person told of his travel arrangements, and stayed at the Mayflower Hotel.
He testified before Congress about the bond insurance crisis the following morning. Among the open questions is where Mr. Spitzer’s security detail was while the prostitute was inside the hotel.The affidavit says that he met with the woman in Room 871 but does not identify the hotel. Room 871 at the Mayflower that evening was registered under the name George Fox.
One of the law enforcement officials said that several people running the prostitution ring knew Mr. Spitzer by the name of George Fox, though a few of the prostitutes came to realize he was the governor of New York.
Mr. Spitzer was elected in a landslide in 2006, capitalizing on his popularity he won as the “Sheriff of Wall Street” during eight years as attorney general. With a reputation for personal probity and independence, he pledged to bring higher ethical standards to the statehouse.
After promising change in Albany from “Day 1,” Mr. Spitzer was quickly plunged into political turmoil, and much of his legislative agenda was sidelined. He gained a reputation for being intemperate and alienated even some members of his own party.
In recent weeks, however, Mr. Spitzer seemed to have rebounded, with his party poised to perhaps gain control of the state Senate for the first time in four decades.
The revelation about Emperor’s Club and the attendant disruption in Albany comes at a particularly bad time: The state faces a $4.4 billion deficit and is weeks away from its deadline to complete a new budget.
Caros,além de homosexual sou misógino ,e tenho total aversão à tudo referente ao sexo feminino.Ah, sim:Segundo o Times, o governador está sendo investigado pela Justiça por ter se envolvido com uma prostituta e deslocado a mulher entre Estados - ação que é considerada crime nos EUA. Em seu breve pronunciamento, Spitzer não comentou essa investigação, o que levou opositores a pedirem sua renúncia.Na reportagem publicada em sua página na internet, o jornal afirma que investigações federais apontam Spitzer como cliente da Emperors Club VIP. Uma conversa telefônica gravada do governador comprova seu envolvimento com uma das prostitutas da rede. Nela, Spitzer é identificado como “Cliente 9” e confirma planos para uma das mulheres viajar de Nova York para Washington, onde ele tinha uma suíte de hotel reservada na noite de 13 de fevereiro.O site da Emperors Club VIP na internet mostra fotos dos corpos das garotas com o rosto coberto, acompanhadas dos preços do programa por hora. Os valores dependem da classificação de cada prostituta, avaliadas em níveis de um a sete “diamantes”. As garotas com sete “diamantes” chegam a cobrar US$ 5.500 por hora.
