Or misuse of public funds and money laundering?
Life's a party when you're governor of New York!
Posted on 03/20/2008 8:30:56 PM PDT by neverdem
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department used some of its most intrusive tactics against Eliot Spitzer, examining his financial records, eavesdropping on his phone calls and tailing him during its criminal investigation of the Emperor’s Club prostitution ring.
The scale and intensity of the investigation of Mr. Spitzer, then the governor of New York, seemed on its face to be a departure for the Justice Department, which aggressively investigates allegations of wrongdoing by public officials, but almost never investigates people who pay prostitutes for sex.
A review of recent federal cases shows that federal prosecutors go sparingly after owners and operators of prostitution enterprises, and usually only when millions of dollars are involved or there are aggravating circumstances, like human trafficking or child exploitation.
Government lawyers and investigators defend the expenditure of resources on Mr. Spitzer in the Emperor’s Club V.I.P. case as justifiable and necessary since it involved the possibility of criminal wrongdoing by New York’s highest elected official, who had been the state’s top prosecutor.
Bradley D. Simon, a veteran Justice Department trial lawyer who was federal prosecutor in Brooklyn throughout the 1990s, said that although it was rare for the department to use so many resources on the workings of a prostitution ring, the involvement of such a high-level politician must change the equation.
“If they’ve got some evidence of a high-ranking public official involved in violations of federal criminal code, it may not be unreasonable for them to pursue it,” he said. Still, he said, “I don’t think prostitution has been a high priority at the Justice Department.”
The focus on Mr. Spitzer was so intense that the F.B.I. used surveillance teams to follow both him and the prostitute in Washington in February. The surveillance teams had followed him at least once before — when he...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
So now the Ny TImes is defending him?
Or misuse of public funds and money laundering?
Life's a party when you're governor of New York!
Although I disagree with the law, apparently it’s against federal law to transport a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.” So, NY Slimes, there’s your violation.
(It could well be that the vigor with which he was surveilled is simply because of how many people he burned because he’s a grade-A S.O.B. and deserves every single retaliation he gets.
Spitzer was hated by both democrats and republican in Albany.
There are very few tears being shed.
doesn’t Viagra make you go blind?
Will Joe Bruno Be New York's 3rd Governor This Year? [Breaking Update]
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
There’s a lot we don’t know. Why was Spitzer paying so much? Usually a man in his position gets it for free (it’s like a get out of jail free card for the operators of the prostitution ring). What connections did the prostitution ring have with organized crime and/or drugs? This was an international prostitution ring - what international connections did they have?
Thanks for the ping!
Good for him, the stupid, ugly, hypocritical, democrap bastard.
LOL
Much as I detested Spitzer and am glad to see him gone, the investigation which lead to his demise was totalitarian and violated almost all of our human rights.
Okay, they need to get their facts straight. Intel gathering is not intrusive if the guilty don’t know they are being investigated. It may be aggressive, but it’s not intrusive. Plus, I am glad that my taxpayer dollars are actually being spent investigating fraud by politicians rather than welfare for those unwilling to contribute in some manner to our society.
The old “Clinton Sex Life Defense”, albit too late. Perhaps Spitzer should have held out?
So does Syphilis.
Obviously there's a lot about this case that isn't being said. For instance: Who's Client #1?
"Liberals DAVID JOHNSTON and PHILIP SHENON of the NY Times
are ticked off a Democrat got caught."
Great gif file.
I share your reservations. There aren’t many out there who deserved to go down as much as Spitzer - the guy was so brazen, aggressive, and corrupt that it was only a matter of time - but the implication of all this is that if the government can do this to him, it can do it to you.
Haha!
Love the Paterson cameo, too.
Wasn’t the reason the investigation started because of the unusual cash transactions that the banks are required to report, leading the investigators to first suspect that he was trying to launder bribe money?
To suggest that suspicion of bribery involving the highest official of a major, important state ought not be aggressively investigated is rather absurd.
Only if you don't call your doctor after 4 hours.
Spitzer’s family is insanely rich - I don’t believe bribery is involved in this case.
What Spitzer really deserved to go down for was his extortion as a prosecutor. Those actions were far worse than being a john with a prostitute. For that, yes, full court press is proper.
But things like the government getting “suspicious activity reports” on financial transactions, the extensive FBI surveillance and the cellphone charges, strike me as grossly disproportionate as well as latent with potential for routine use against everyday citizens. These are features of a police state, not of a free country.
Of course it's not, but that's what they thought might be going on when they started the investigation.
And that is exactly what concerns me. He wasn’t at all guilty of the suspected charge, an a government apparatus designed to deal with very serious crimes was applied to a misdemeanor.
This is how it applies to you and me. God forbid one of us should be falsely charged by the government, these tactics let them apply the full force of the state no matter how minor an infraction you may be guilty of. And you should have no illusion that you are guilty of something under the current US code, it’s nearly impossible not to be (because it’s impossible to know a body of law so large in its entirety). The bottom line is that the government, if it wants to get you, it will get you, on anything it possibly can. (And if it can’t, it’ll still bankrupt you in legal fees in the process.)
This shouldn’t be news to any conservative.
That’s why conservatives who support big government and expansive government powers like RealID and the PATRIOT act, are so baffling. They don’t seem to realize that these powers will be inherited by crooked and craven Democrats like the Clintons and Spitzer.
Am I the only person who realizes that prostitution is run by the mafia ? That being so if the Gov is bonking one of their girls for years the MOB knows that and I’m positive has pics and tapes. Then ..when a trial comes up or an investigation comes around ..Sal or Nunzio calls up the GOV , reminds him they have evidence they can send to his wife and bingo , the case is dropped. The GOV compromised his power by dealing with mob run businesses. Is that clear to anyone? On top of that anyone who is that friggin STUPID as to get caught like this should not be in any decision making position at all.
I could care less who tapes my phone or watches my bank account. They would die of boredom in a month. You dont think Visa , Master Card and the cookies on your computer don’t know just about everything about you ? No less than the government I’m sure.
They are not after you and me my friend. He was a governor , and a total scumbag.They had reason to watch him , money was being moved . They stumbled onto his dirty deeds in the process.
Bingo , I’m with you . Your doing nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about . Some here are sounding like the pot smoking , paranoid liberals who are afraid the MAN is listening in on their drug buys on the phone.
The Feds someday will catch another 9/11 plot and we’ll all be glad they did . The same people who are against the FEDS “looking into things” would be the first to sue the pants off the fed is thier kid got blown to bit in a 9/11 style attack that the Feds didnt see coming because of RESTRICTIONS .
Did you know that if you deposit $12,000 in your bank account, you’ve done nothing wrong, but if you deposit $4,000 three times over the course of a week or two, you might have broken a law?
So what .
Stop it man , you’re getting paranoid. Why don’t you rent a hall and get ALL the average Joe’s who were picked up by the Feds for moving $4000 around in their accounts and all you 1000s of falsely accused guys can discuss the big bad government.Bet you’d sit there a long time waiting for anyone to show up.All the freaks in NY City are always whining about how the FEDS are tapping the average citizen’s phone. Like they have nothing better to do .
Of course it’s not the average Joe who has to be concerned. But suppose you’re considered an irritating gadfly by a certain government official who you’ve exposed as a crook? Suppose you’re a journalist investigating bid-rigging? Suppose you get on Hillary Clinton’s s***-list for some reason or another?
You’re way out there brother.I have nothing to worry about , I’m just an average guy and not a high profile politician . THOSE people have things to worry about and most should be busted as they are crooks. Again , you’d be the 1st to sue the government I suspect if your family got blow up in an attack that SHOULD have been found out if ONLY the FEDS did their job.
Spritzer was a bastard on a person , crooked as they come and he compromised his authority by dealing with a mafia run business for years. He got just what the taxes payers wanted him to get , the boot.I’d like to see more Dems get investigated like Pelosi and Boxer and see where their zillions come from and go to . We have a political system that is MORE corrupt than ancient Rome and it’s time we did goafter any funny stuff we see.
PS id I’m not actually breaking a law I still have nothing to worry about . Again , the average guy is not involved in any of this .
How do you know you’re not actually breaking any law? Have you reviewed every page of the US Code? Do you know that the BATFE has defined a shoelace as a “machine gun,” and rubber washers as “silencer parts?”
Yes, the average guy is not involved in any of this, but how can you be sure, particularly if you’re a political activist or journalist, as to whether you qualify as “average” to everyone in government?
For example, a restaurant owner in Arizona is being harried by the local planning and zoning board, who he must have pissed off in some way.
They’re attempting to punish him for not preventing his customers from dancing to the music in the restaurant, claiming that he’s operating a “dance hall” in violation of his use permit.
Now imagine petty tyrant a-holes like that, who are drawn to government bureaucracy like flies to manure, with expansive, unchecked power to apply to the purpose of harassing and punishing people who piss them off? Lovely, eh?
I've never understood the angst from the Patriot Act. I don't do illegal things (except speeding) and I know that if they listen to my phone calls, they'll listen to me talk to my wife, and decide I'm a waste of time and move on. Besides, spy agencies have to get very specific permission to spy on citizens of this country.
I’ll take my chances , I’m really not concerned and neither are most people I’d bet . Balance that against the threat of a hown grown terrorist blowing up your kids and I’ll take my chances with the feds doing whatever they need to do . As it is they are being held back by the ever paranoid libs , don’t join them .
Exactly my friend. These people on here sound more like cool aid drinking Libs by the day . Ichallenge anyone on here to show me an average Joe who has been hunted down by the feds for doing absolutely nothing wrong. They can listen in on me , watch my bank account and read my mail for all care. These folks don’t understand that google and Visa know more about them than the feds do .
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