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U.S. Is Examining Spitzer’s Funds (did he use campaign funds for hooker expenses?)
NY Times ^ | March 14, 2008 | By DANNY HAKIM and DON VAN NATTA Jr.

Posted on 03/14/2008 6:21:11 AM PDT by jdm

** EXCERPT **

ALBANY — Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Gov. Eliot Spitzer used campaign funds in connection with his meetings with prostitutes, including payments for hotels or ground transportation, three people with knowledge of the investigation said.

Prosecutors have asked the governor’s lawyers about the travel arrangements for three trips, including his Feb. 13 rendezvous with a prostitute at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. The United States attorney’s office in Manhattan has also asked about the governor’s use of car services during trips to Washington.

The governor’s lawyers have begun consulting with a campaign finance expert who has long worked for Mr. Spitzer’s political organization to see whether campaign money was spent on the trips, including some as recently as last month, a person briefed on the investigation said.

The governor, in the two brief statements he made this week as his political career ended, has not directly addressed the allegations concerning his use of prostitutes. But he has told his aides in recent days that he used prostitutes only in the last eight months and never spent campaign or public money in that regard, according to several of the aides. He reaffirmed that position to his lawyer during a meeting at his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday, others present said.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: client9; democratparty; eliotspitzer; funds; spitzer
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1 posted on 03/14/2008 6:21:12 AM PDT by jdm
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To: jdm
...he has told his aides ... that he used prostitutes only in the last eight months and never spent campaign or public money ... according to several of the aides. He reaffirmed that position to his lawyer...

NEVER lie to your lawyer..........

2 posted on 03/14/2008 6:25:53 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: jdm

Liberals ONLY want to spend YOUR money.

I suspect he used public money in some way.


3 posted on 03/14/2008 6:27:14 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: jdm
“At some point, this becomes piling on,” the friend said. The friend said that he would be stunned if “a judge or jury would convict a man for something like this. It’s very low grade,” adding, “Why would prosecutors pursue this?”

I dunno. Ask Scooter Libby about being piled on. The Democrats loved it though!

4 posted on 03/14/2008 6:31:24 AM PDT by Enterprise ((Those who "betray us" also "Betray U.S." They're called DEMOCRATS!))
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To: jdm

Time generally accepted timeline shows that he started seeing hookers when he was a prosecutor. Did he use his office to get a discount? Did he use it to harass the competitors of his favorite hookers?


5 posted on 03/14/2008 6:33:37 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Rattenschadenfreude: joy at a Democrat's pain, especially Hillary's pain caused by Obama.)
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To: jdm
Piling On = Prosecuting a Liberal

Justice = Investigating a Conservative for a nothing

6 posted on 03/14/2008 6:35:07 AM PDT by poobear (Pure democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner. God save the Republic!)
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To: poobear

Excellent!


7 posted on 03/14/2008 6:44:52 AM PDT by Enterprise ((Those who "betray us" also "Betray U.S." They're called DEMOCRATS!))
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To: Enterprise
“At some point, this becomes piling on,” the friend said. The friend said that he would be stunned if “a judge or jury would convict a man for something like this. It’s very low grade,” adding, “Why would prosecutors pursue this?”

I dunno. Ask Scooter Libby about being piled on. The Democrats loved it though!

Amen! Ask the ENRON execs if they felt it was "piling on" when the Govt Task Force kept going after 6 years.

Ask the Wall Street execs who were threatened by Eliot "Spitzler" if it was "piling on" when he would indict entire firms to ruin them - and only back off if they paid protection money to his campaign.

Piling on indeed.

Spitzer needs to be indicted, convicted, and sent to a Federal Prison. It is his first offense, so he can go to a Federal Camp where the rules are less strict. No crying in our beer for him. He will walk out after a couple of years and still be much, much richer than 99.999% of people on the planet.

8 posted on 03/14/2008 7:09:55 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: jdm

9 posted on 03/14/2008 7:11:51 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: SkyPilot

Ditto!


10 posted on 03/14/2008 7:15:20 AM PDT by Enterprise ((Those who "betray us" also "Betray U.S." They're called DEMOCRATS!))
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To: nmh
I suspect he used public money in some way.

It has already been stated that he manufactured his appearance (invited himself) before the senate sub-committee that he testified to on the occasion of his Feb 13th liaison.

So, right there, he mis-used public funds to go to Washington so he could screw his whore.

11 posted on 03/14/2008 7:24:17 AM PDT by Wil H
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To: Wil H; Liz
It has already been stated that he manufactured his appearance (invited himself) before the senate sub-committee that he testified to on the occasion of his Feb 13th liaison. So, right there, he mis-used public funds to go to Washington so he could screw his whore.

Exactly. Spitzer went to the lobby of the Mayflower hotel to ask his aids if anyone had a CD of Classical music for him to "listen to while he worked" (LOL!) - telling them he would be "up late preparing for my testimony before Congress."

Obviously, he wasn't in his room going over notes that evening.

When Spitzer did testify, he was said to be "unprepared" by a Republican Congressman - and he and Spitzer got into a shouting match that was broadcast on C-SPAN.

I think I will search for that clip.

12 posted on 03/14/2008 7:33:14 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: Enterprise

Eliot Spitzer made a heck of a lot of enemies on his way up. Every single one of them is going to stand in line to give him a kick on his way down.

Moral of the story: Don’t be a dick!


13 posted on 03/14/2008 7:35:47 AM PDT by gridlock (They don't call us "The Stupid Party" for nuthin'!)
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To: SkyPilot
THE NAME OF SPITZER’S GAME IS RETURN ON INVESTMENT. The large sums people put up to get Spitzer into office had a promise attached. Even before Spitzer ran for office he apparently colluded with his father and his finacier buddies to pull off an election scam.

Like all the details of this con game, Spitzer kept everything under wraps.

Spitzer apparently winked and nodded and assured these colluders the sums paid in for his election would get a "return on investment."

Follow the money---the contributions to Spitzer's elections can all be traced back to RETURN ON INVESTMENT.

Law Enforcement should give all of Spitzer's donors a thorough going over----the tax-exempt Spitzer family trust needs to come under intense scrutiny.

(1) Taxpayers need assurances that Spitzer's official acts are open and above-board and do not conflict with the pecuniary interests of taxpayers.

(2) All documents, phone records and computer data connected to Spitzer should be made available.

(3) A global search of the governor’s financial logs, daily schedules, staff schedules, travel records and phone records, corresponding paperwork and computer data, should be made available for public scrutiny.

(4) A public record should be made of any and all records connected to the governot's office, budget allocations, bonding, state contracts, investing/ managing state revenue, investing pension revenue, were connected to Spitzer's donors.

Voters demand to know the extent to which the Spitzer admin colluded in secret insider deals that benefited his donors to the exclusion of others.

14 posted on 03/14/2008 8:07:26 AM PDT by Liz (I spent $60 million and got one lousy delegate. Rudy Giuliani)
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To: SkyPilot

Spitzer was known to prosties as "Client 9."

That's hooker code for "the sucker with rabbit ears and the NY state government expense account."

15 posted on 03/14/2008 8:09:31 AM PDT by Liz (I spent $60 million and got one lousy delegate. Rudy Giuliani)
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To: All
L/E AUTHORITIES NEED TO ACT ON THE FOLLOWING:

(A) Were Spizter's family, or his hedge fund donor, listed as sole owners, 50% owners, vice presidents and/or treasurers of companies with offshore addresses? Were companies listed offshore....say, in Tortola, the British Virgin Islands?

(B) NY taxpayers need to see all the SEC filings (and amended filings) of companies doing business with the state to determine whether state bonding, and pension fund investments were fraudulently booked by crooked accounting methods, then laundered to hide placement-fees.

(C) L/E authorities need to determine whether offshore firms----with Spitzer's sub rosa help---grabbed a piece of the NY state billion dollar pension fund investments and billion dollar state bonding/revenue billions. These funds may have been improperly directed, in order to enrich insiders.

(D) The IRS and SEC should investigate the extent to which Spizer may have used tax-exempt municipal bonding and pension investments in schemes to circumvent the IRS, SEC, and US banking laws.

(E) L/E authorities need to determine whether licensed financial hedge fund firms looking for billion dollar bond sales and pension investments were improperly directed, and whether Spitzer did anything improper to enrich insiders.

===============================

BACKSTORY

Spitzer’s daddy, his immediate family, and other financiers, pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Eliot's campaigns since his first losing bid for attorney general in 1994.

The Spitzer family tax-exempt charity has donated at least $140,000 to groups led by his political allies - a practice that some have questioned. Bernard Spitzer also lent his son $5 million to pay for early campaigns when Eliot was largely unknown.

Through Spitzer has little trouble raising money now, his relatives have continued to do their part. He reported $19 million in his campaign coffers in January, with his parents and brother Daniel, a neurosurgeon, donating $326,000, records show.

The Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust - on which Eliot, Daniel and their parents are board members - gave a total of $66,000 in 2004 to NARAL Pro-Choice New York, an abortion rights group; the Drum Major Institute, a think tank; and the Progressive America Fund, a voter mobilization effort. The groups, whose leaders back Spitzer for governor, received $75,000 from his charity between 2000 and 2003. Donations to his allies were a fraction of the $2.6 million the foundation awarded in 2004.

REFERENCE The Bernard & Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust Inc.
(Formerly: The Bernard & Anne Spitzer Foundation Inc.)
730 5th Ave----Suite 2202
New York, NY 10019-4105
Telephone: (212) 765-5170

Bernard Spitzer, President; Anne Spitzer, Treasurer. Board members--Eliot and his brother Dr Daniel Spitzer.

Type of foundation: Independent Fiscal Date: 12/31/05
Assets: $35,115,418 Total Giving: $578,663
EIN:137298842

Most Recent IRS Filing: View 0990 FORM http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:l2QSwTcRe2YJ:foundationcenter.org/cgi-bin/ffindershow.cgi%3Fid%3DSPIT004

0990 FORM FINDER http://dynamodata.foundationcenter.org/990s/f990_pdf?idx=13&ein=137298842&fd=123105&fn=The%20Bernard%20%26amp%3B%20Anne%20Spitzer%20Charitable%20Trust%20Inc.%3Cbr%3E730%205th%20Ave.%2C%20Ste.%202202%3CBR%3ENew%20York%2C%20NY%2010019-4105%3CBR%3E&a.pdf

=====================================================

For his two campaigns, Spitzer spent a total of about $12M, mostly personal funds and bank loans. Spitzer borrowed about $5M from his father to help settle loans, and was earning $200,000 a year consulting for his father. Between 2000-2004, the charity gave $101,000 to NARAL's foundation. NARAL also has given $10,500 to Spitzer's two campaigns and endorsed him.

The Spitzer trust invests in hedge funds, including some whose managers donate to Spitzer. Lawrence Golub, Spitzer's high school friend, and his wife, Karen Finerman, gave a total of $100,200 to Spitzer's bid for governor. Both have been managers in Bedford Falls Investors Lp, and he is a founder of Golub Capital Partners. The Spitzer trust had allegedly invested $4.8M with those groups in 2004.

Lawrence Golub, Founder and President
Golub Capital Partners IV, LP
TELE (212) 750-6060
TELE (212) 660-7272
EMAIL lgolub@golubcapital.com

New York Office
551 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Lawrence Golub TELE 212.660.7272
EMAIL lgolub@golubcapital.com

David Golub
TELE 212.660.7277
EMAIL dgolub@golubcapital.com
TELE 212.750.6060 (phone)
FAX 212.750.5505 (fax)

===================

During Spitler's 1998 AG campaign, he indignantly denied allegations by his GOP opponent, Dennis Vacco (Vacco is a top-notch pro-life conservative), that Spitler's wealthy father had provided millions in loans to his AG campaign. Candidate Spitzer insisted he was using only his own money (family members are limited by law to $110,000 in total contributions) and accused Vacco of "smearing" his father.

Not until he'd actually taken office did Spitzer admit that Dennis Vacco had been correct, after all. In fact, it turned out Spitzer, despite earlier denials, had done the exact same thing during his unsuccessful 1994 run for AG.

16 posted on 03/14/2008 8:27:23 AM PDT by Liz (I spent $60 million and got one lousy delegate. Rudy Giuliani)
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To: Liz

Is his Dad still alive?

If so, I bet Easter dinner with the folks is going to be an interesting Sunday.


17 posted on 03/14/2008 8:31:34 AM PDT by KC Burke (Men of intemperate minds can never be free...their passions forge their fetters.)
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To: Enterprise
“At some point, this becomes piling on,” the friend said. The friend said that he would be stunned if “a judge or jury would convict a man for something like this. It’s very low grade,” adding, “Why would prosecutors pursue this?”

According to a former FBI agent on a show last night said this was probably only the tip of the iceberg. He thought it was probably connected to a mafia ring. He said they wouldn't have spent that much time, effort and money on just prostitutes even it it was the governor using them.

18 posted on 03/14/2008 8:33:55 AM PDT by kcvl
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To: KC Burke

I doubt many Jews view Sunday as Easter.


19 posted on 03/14/2008 8:34:50 AM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: jdm

Spitzer has spent around $80,000 on prostitutes.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03122008/news/regionalnews/80g_addicted_to_love_gov_101541.htm


20 posted on 03/14/2008 8:36:46 AM PDT by FBD (My carbon footprint is bigger then yours)
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