On March 10, 2008, The New York Times reported that Eliot Spitzer, Governor of New York, had patronized a prostitution ring run by an escort agency known as Emperors Club VIP. During the course of an investigation into the escort agency, the federal government became aware of Spitzer's involvement with prostitutes due to a wiretap. Following the public disclosure of his actions, Spitzer resigned as Governor effective March 17, 2008.
The investigation of Spitzer was initiated after North Fork Bank [1] reported suspicious transactions to the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as required by the Bank Secrecy Act, which was enhanced by Patriot Act provisions, enacted to combat terrorist activity such as money laundering. [2] Spitzer had at least seven liaisons with prostitutes from the Emperors Club over six months, and paid more than $15,000 for their services. Federal agents had him under surveillance twice in 2008. [3] [4] [5] According to published reports, investigators believe Spitzer paid up to $80,000 for prostitutes over a period of several years – first while he was attorney general, and later as governor. [6] [7]
Governor Spitzer, referred to as "Client 9" in an affidavit filed in US Federal Court, [8] arranged to meet at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on February 13, 2008, with a prostitute named "Kristen". "Kristen" was later identified as 22-year-old Ashley Dupré. [9] [10] She intended to travel from New York City for the planned tryst and Spitzer agreed in advance that he "would be paying for everything—train tickets, cab fare from the hotel and back, mini-bar or room service, travel time and hotel". [11] After the meeting on February 13, 2008, Spitzer paid her $4,300 in cash. [12] The payment included $1,100 as a deposit toward future services to be provided by the Emperors Club. [13]
Room 871 at the Mayflower Hotel was booked under the name George Fox, a pseudonym that was allegedly the name of his close friend, a hedge fund investor. [14] [15] Some of this information came to light from a United States Department of Justice wiretap. [16] [17] [18]
According to Newsday , Spitzer wanted to transfer more than $10,000 to a front company for the prostitution ring. However, he broke up the transactions into smaller slices due to federal law requiring the reporting of any transfer of $10,000 or more. When he tried to get his name taken off the wires, the bank refused, saying that the money had already been wired out and that it would be improper to do so in any case. The IRS Criminal Investigation Division then began a probe, initially fearing that Spitzer was the victim of either extortion or identity theft. [19]
North Fork's report in July 2007 went largely unnoticed until HSBC filed a report in the fall that the transactions were going to QAT International and QAT Consulting Group, which were offshore shell companies operating as a front for the Emperors Club VIP. [20]
Later, the IRS contacted the FBI to investigate possible political corruption. The investigation led federal authorities to link the money transfers to the Emperors Club. [21] [22] Prosecutors charged the four people operating the escort service with violations of the Mann Act several days prior to the revelations of Spitzer's involvement. [23]
In November 2008, the Department of Justice declined to prosecute Spitzer for violating the Mann Act. [24]
On March 7, 2008, The New York Times reported that the federal government had arrested four people in connection with an international online prostitution ring run by Emperors Club VIP. [25]
On March 10, the Times reported that Spitzer had been "caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel". [26] Spitzer was identified as "Client 9", and the Times stated that he had met with a prostitute from Emperors Club VIP at a Washington, D.C. hotel. [26]
Later on March 10, Spitzer held a press conference. At that time, he said:
I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right and wrong. I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better. I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family. [26]
Following Spitzer's March 10 press conference, New York State Assembly Republican Minority Leader James Tedisco and Republican New York Congressman Peter King separately called for his resignation. Tedisco later announced that he would initiate impeachment proceedings in the State Assembly if Spitzer did not resign. [27] Spitzer's office and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to comment, [15] [28] [29] [30] except to say that "There is no agreement between this office and Gov. Eliot Spitzer, relating to his resignation or any other matter." [31]
In the wake of the revelations, and amid threats of impeachment, Spitzer announced on March 12, 2008, that he would resign his post as governor at noon on March 17, 2008. Spitzer said at a news conference in Manhattan:
I cannot allow for my private failings to disrupt the people's work. Over the course of my public life, I have insisted—I believe correctly—that people take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor. [6] [32]
Spitzer's lieutenant governor, David Paterson, succeeded him as governor of New York and served the remaining three years of Spitzer's four-year term. [33]
Spitzer's prostitution scandal became international news. [34] [35]
The real George Fox, who is a close friend and campaign donor of Spitzer, issued a statement denying any connection to the scandal beyond the unauthorized use of his name. [36] He said that he was "disappointed and distressed" that Spitzer had used his name as an alias, and confirmed that Spitzer privately apologized to him. [37]
According to Nell Minow, a corporate-governance expert, Wall Street reaction to the scandal was largely positive, due to a general dislike of Spitzer amongst investment professionals. [38] Governor Spitzer made his rise to victory in New York City politics promising "ethics and integrity to be the hallmarks of [his] administration." He had prosecuted several prostitution rings in his career, [39] and his connection with a prostitution ring was felt as a betrayal by some women's rights and anti-human trafficking groups that had previously worked with him. [40]
In an editorial reflecting on the scandal, philosopher Martha Nussbaum wrote "Spitzer's offense was an offense against his family. It was not an offense against the public. If he broke any laws, these are laws that never should have existed and that have been repudiated by sensible nations." [41]
In 2011, The Guardian summarized Spitzer's history as follows:
Long before there was Barack Obama there was Spitzer. While Obama toiled unknown in Illinois, the Bronx-born Spitzer won himself a national reputation as the "Sheriff of Wall Street". He was New York's tough-talking attorney-general, who fought banking corruption, enforced environment law and won rights for low-paid workers. He used that fame to enter politics and in 2006 became governor of New York: a perfect springboard for the White House. Before America fell in love with its first black president, people wondered if it was willing to embrace its first Jewish one. Spitzer could have made history.
Instead he left office in disgrace three years ago amid a flood of tabloid headlines that recounted salacious details from his repeated use of a high-end escort service. Spitzer was dubbed the "Luv Guv" and forced into a political wilderness. Rarely in American politics was a fall from grace so spectacular, so complete and so clearly down to a self-inflicted human flaw. [42]
"Kristen", 22, was an aspiring pop recording artist living in Manhattan whose professional stage name is Ashley Dupré. She was just one of the escorts that Spitzer had liaisons with, but she gained significant media attention following the scandal. After the news broke, she responded that she didn't "want to be thought of as a monster", [43] and that it had been a "difficult" and "complicated" time for her. [10]
As a result of the media attention following the scandal, Dupré was offered $1 million by Hustler to pose nude for the magazine, and received unofficial offers from Penthouse, among others. [44] She eventually agreed to pose for Playboy in the May 2010 issue. [45]
Overseas, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster was a high-profile casualty of the scandal when Emperors Club prostitutes alleged that he had been a client. The allegations were followed by Grosvenor stepping down as Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets) in the British Ministry of Defence. [46]
Both Spitzer and Kristin M. Davis, another madam caught in the prostitution scandal but unaffiliated with the Emperors Club VIP, ran for New York City Comptroller in 2013. Davis won the Libertarian Party nomination, but later withdrew from the race following a drug arrest. [47] There was some debate as to whether or not Spitzer's name recognition would help him in the election. [48] Spitzer lost the Democratic primary to Scott Stringer, [49] 52.1–47.9%. [50]
A call girl or female escort is a prostitute who does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency. The client must make an appointment, usually by calling a telephone number. Call girls often advertise their services in small ads in magazines and via the Internet, although an intermediary advertiser, such as an escort agency, may be involved in promoting escorts, while, less often, some may be handled by a pimp. Call girls may work either incall, where the client comes to them, or outcall, where they go to the client. Some porn stars are known to escort as well.
Theodore Von Wells, Jr. is an American lawyer who works in the field of criminal law. He is a litigation partner at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and one of twelve fellows of the Harvard Corporation, the primary governing board of Harvard University. He was previously a chairman of the NAACP.
Prostitution is illegal in the vast majority of the United States as a result of state laws rather than federal laws. It is, however, legal in some rural counties within the state of Nevada. Additionally, it is decriminalized to sell sex in the state of Maine, but illegal to buy sex. Prostitution nevertheless occurs elsewhere in the country.
Tracy Quan is an American writer and former sex worker. She is best known for her Nancy Chan novels. In addition, Quan has written a regular column for The Guardian website on pop culture, sex and politics and is involved in the sex workers' rights movement.
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New York held various elections on November 7, 2006. Most notably, elections were held for the state governor, attorney general, comptroller, and for the U.S. Senate, all of which saw Democrats win and build on their existing majority. While Democrats had already been a strong force in the New York City area, most of the Democratic gains in 2006 occurred upstate. Former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer won the 2006 gubernatorial election by a record margin, while Andrew Cuomo replaced him as the new attorney general. Alan Hevesi was re-elected as comptroller, despite mounting ethics concerns. Hillary Clinton was re-elected to the Senate. For the first time in over 50 years, all major statewide elected offices were held by one party. For the first time in over 60 years, they were all held by Democrats.
Emperors Club VIP was an international escort agency based in New York City, founded in 2004 by Mark Brener and Cecil Suwal and operated from the bank accounts of QAT Consulting Group, Inc., and QAT International, Inc. The agency was shut down in March 2008 following a federal investigation into suspicious money transfers from New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, which led to the discovery of its operation as an illegal prostitution ring. Following public reports of Governor Spitzer's patronage as client #9, he resigned from office.
Emperors Club may refer to:
The Emperors Club may refer to:
Ashley Rae Maika DiPietro, better known by the stage name Ashley Alexandra Dupré, is a former call girl. She gained fame in 2008 for her role as "Kristen" in the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, which led to the resignation of Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York.
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Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008.
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Kristin M. Davis, previously known as the Manhattan Madam, is a former madam who was known for running a high-end prostitution ring in New York City which claimed to have offered its services to several high-profile clients, including Eliot Spitzer, Alex Rodriguez and David Beckham. After her conviction for prostitution related activities, Davis ran a protest campaign for Governor of New York in 2010 and was poised to run for New York City Comptroller in 2013 before being arrested for distributing drugs.
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer is a documentary directed by Alex Gibney about former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and the sex scandal that derailed his political career. It premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival on April 24, 2010; on iTunes and Magnolia On Demand on October 1, 2010; and in movie theaters in limited release on November 5, 2010.
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The Internet has become one of the preferred methods of communication for prostitution, as clients and prostitutes are less vulnerable to arrest or assault and for its convenience.
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Danny Hakim is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Hakim shared a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 as one of the lead reporters on a team that covered the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal.
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