Ru-oh. There goes his membership in the moral majority.
ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation
[From Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring - New York Times]
Only in America would this even be front page news. Now, a dead girl, or a live boy? Now we're talking…
At least he now can claim membership in Hypocrites Anonymous, a political support group consisting of mostly, but not exclusively, Republicans.Federal prosecutors rarely charge clients in prostitution cases, which are generally seen as state crimes. But the Mann Act, passed by Congress in 1910 to address prostitution, human trafficking and what was viewed at the time as immorality in general, makes it a crime to transport someone between states for the purpose of prostitution. The four defendants charged in the case unsealed last week were all charged with that crime, along with several others.Mr. Spitzer had a difficult first year in office, rocked by a mix of scandal and legislative setbacks. In recent weeks, however, Mr. Spitzer seemed to have rebounded, with his Democratic party poised to perhaps gain control of the state Senate for the first time in four decades.
Mr. Spitzer gained national attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of Wall Street wrongdoing. As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.
In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.
“”This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. ”It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”
The Huffington Post has more, including some screengrabs from the now-defunct website. These girls weren't cheap ($1,500 - to $5,000 a night), but they did take American Express
Excerpts of those intercepted calls, provided in court documents, offer a window onto some of the managerial challenges that confronted the four defendants who allegedly managed the operation. In them, the managers discuss how some of the Emperor Club prostitutes had difficulty taking imprints of their clients' American Express cards, making it difficult to charge them. Prostitutes weren't always punctual in arriving at their engagements. There were scheduling conflicts to resolve caused by the photo shoots of the women who modeled during the day. And clients called in wanting to know what they should tell their accountants about the expenses they were racking up with the Emperors Club.
