Posted on 03/10/2008 2:49:51 PM PDT by neverdem
Updated Monday, 4:30 PM
Gov. Spitzer apologized to his family and the state Monday after a swirl of shocking reports surfaced that he was a regular at high-class prostitution ring that charged upward of $5,500-an-hour for its high-end hookers.
“I acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family...I’ve disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself,” he said.
His wan-faced wife, Silda, stood by his side at a tense press conference at his Manhattan office called within an hour of the New York Times breaking the story.
“I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family,” Spitzer said. “I will report back to you in short order.”
He took no questions.
Spitzer, 48, who left the room arm-in-arm with his wife, 50, has three teenage daughters and a carefully honed reputation for rectitude.
Last week, the feds busted the Emperors Club VIP, an international prostitution ring that charged upscale clients up to $5,500 an hour.
An official briefed on the investigation told the Daily News that Spitzer is the man described in great detail by prosecutors as “Client 9” - a regular patron of the prostitution ring who was known to request unsafe sex acts.
WNBC reported the feds have text messages from the governor’s phone to the hooker bookers.
In an FBI affidavit filed March 5 in Manhattan Federal Court, prosecutors described complex discussions about a payment for sending a hooker named “Kristen” on the train to Washington to meet Client 9 in a hotel on Feb. 13 - the night before Valentine’s Day. Sources said Spitzer was Client 9.
Spitzer was in Washington to testify the next day at the House Financial Services Committee about troubles in the bond market. A column he wrote appeared in the Feb. 14 Washington Post.
According to the affidavit, the managers of the hooker ring complained that his payment - “a deposit of money sent by mail” - had not arrived.
The client said he had made his payment “same as in the past no question about it.” The money was to cover Kristen’s train and cab fare plus her services and whatever she wanted out of the mini-bar.
When the money arrived, Kristen boarded the 5:39 p.m. out of Penn station and arrived at the Washington hotel at about 9:30 p.m.
The client had left a key to room 871 for her with the concierge.
The client was told he had about $500 left on his account and would owe a balance of $2,721.41. He was asked to give Kristen an extra $1,500 or $2,000 to avoid future payment problems.
“He did not know if he could get to a machine to do that, but he would see,” said the affidavit.
Then he asked, “what does she look like?”
The reply: “An American, petite, very pretty brunette, 5-feet-5 inches and 105 pounds.”
Kristen reported back just after midnight on Feb. 14 to her booker that she had spent about two hours with him and that she “thought it went very well” and that he handed her $4,300.
In the taped conversation, she reported that she liked him and said, “I don’t think he’s difficult.”
“I mean, it’s just kind of like...whatever...I’m here for a purpose. I know what my purpose is. I am not a....moron, you know what I mean? So maybe that’s why girls maybe think they’re difficult,” she is quoted as saying in the affidavit.
Her booker in New York said that the client was known to “ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe, you know.”
She responded: “I have a way of dealing with that...I’d be like, listen dude, you really want the sex?...You know what I mean?”
According to prosecutors, the hooker ring recruited women from across the globe, in New York, Miami, London and France, prosecutors said.
The club used a rating system of diamonds for each of the models whose lingerie-clad bodies were advertised on their Web site. A three-diamond model went for $1,000, and a seven-diamond prostitute fetched $3,100.
Iron Club members won access to the most highly prized prostitutes for $5,500 an hour, prosecutors said.
Agents from the Internal Revenue Service found more than $600,000 in cash in the Cliffside Park, N.J., home of 62-year-old accused ringleader Mark Brener.
As a crusading attorney general, Spitzer went after at least two similar prostitution rings.
Last year, Spitzer roared into the governor’s office on a landslide of popularity, promising that “everything changes on Day One.” But he frittered away his popular support in a series of scandals and missteps.
By last fall, his approval rating was at 30% and polls showed New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg would defeat him handily if he ran for governor.
Spitzer’s wife, Silda, is founder of Children for Children, a non-profit organization that fosters social responsibility in young people.
"Who? The People of New York? What have they to do with me?"
Already posted a dozen times
Let’s see...we have a governer from NJ who resigns for being a cheating, lying, philandering, whore and now we have a governer from NY who also turns out to be the same (expcept the NY whore is heterosexual). Oh, and they’re both Democrats. Interesting.
At least they resigned.
Larry Craig (R) trolls for queers in a public restroom, yet he is still in office.
What a strange way to talk, it's like he has no free will. You don't expect things of yourself, you just do them. Slick, whiney doofus.
.
Don't you have to pay extra for that?
More likely, he was tied to the bedpost and for that reason has been implicated in a prostitution ring.
If she was successful with that she should start and organization that fosters social responsibility in her family.
There’s a real detachment from reality there. Typical of sociopaths.
In related news: Dennis Kucinich tied to crop circles.
Responsiblility, that’s ok, we’re learning from your beloved Democrats like Barney Frank, and Gerry Studds, political WHORES who NEVER resigned, either!
At $5000 a trick, I think he he can get tied, whipped, spanked, all with whip cream and a cherry on top.
That’s JMO.
Not even mentioned in the WSJ article on same topic.
Wasn’t Spitzer the guy who never hesitated to tell other people how they were behaving wrongly, via endless lawsuits?
Somehow, you almost got a feeling the guy was over-compensating for something .... now we know.
I think he wanted to do some rectitubing with "Kristen".
There are now 26 threads which have been Key worded with "spitzer" related to this prostitution bust.
Some might have been missed though.
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