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Posted on 03/10/2008 6:58:59 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - The federal investigation into a high-end prostitution ring linked to Gov. Eliot Spitzer apparently began last year as a financial probe by the Internal Revenue Service.
The investigation into the Emperors Club VIP gathered more than 5,000 telephone calls and text messages, and more than 6,000 e-mails, along with bank records, travel and hotel records and surveillance.
But it was unclear whether Spitzer was a target from the start or whether agents came across his name by accident while amassing evidence.
Conversations were recorded about someone identified as "Client 9," including that a prostitute identified as "Kristen" should take a train from New York to Washington for a tryst on the night of Feb. 13, according to an affidavit.
A law enforcement source in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that "Client 9" was Spitzer and that he met with "Kristen" in a Washington hotel room just two hours before Valentine's Day.
Wiretaps enabled government agents to listen as the woman later told a booking agent for the ring that she had secured $4,300 in cash from her client and that she liked him. Authorities also had statements from a confidential source and an undercover officer.
The prostitution ring first came to light last week when four people with charged with running it.
It was not immediately clear whether Spitzer could face charges. Federal prosecutors have brought charges against several prostitution rings over the past two decades, but have generally not prosecuted customers.
The public-corruption unit of the U.S. attorney's office got involved after the IRS looked into a complaint of a potential violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, the government's main tool against money laundering.
Financial institutions are required to have anti-money laundering programs, which help the government catch terrorist financiers, drug lords and other criminals. Financial companies also must report suspicious financial transactions to the government.
Investigators say the Emperors Club, which is based in Brooklyn, made more than $1 million for its operators by selling the services of women whose bodies were displayed, their faces concealed, on a Web site.
The prostitutes were advertised as costing from $1,000 to $5,500 an hour.
Last Thursday, four people were arrested in the probe and charged with conspiracy to violate federal prostitution laws: Mark Brener, 62, and Cecil Suwal, 23, who live together in Cliffside Park, N.J.; Temeka Rachelle Lewis, 32, of Brooklyn; and Tanya Hollander, 36, of Rhinebeck, N.Y.
Brener and Suwal also were charged with conspiracy to launder more than $1 million in illicit proceeds. Lewis and Hollander were accused of arranging meetings between prostitutes and clients.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Stein said he believed the arrests shut down the ring.
The business promised clients they could pay with a wire transfer that would show up on records as QAT Consulting to make it appear to be a business transaction.
"Client 9" insisted on paying in cash.
Another gangster taken down by the IRS.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Of course I think prostitution should be perfectly legal, but since it isn’t, Spitzer should politically swing for this.
Any guesses on who “clients” one through eight are? And is $4,300 indeed Love Potion Number Nine?
In so many ways, Spitz is a perfect Clintonite...
Are you kidding? This is a resume enhancement for Spitzer. Why, he could easily be the dems next candidate for POTUS with this on his record. All he has to do is lie to a Federal Grand Jury and get his wife to "stand by her man"! He could even have McGreevy for a VP! Its worked before. Why not this time?
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He’s not married to Hillary.
He’s done.
You may be right. Spitzer sounded like Hussein Obama at his press conference. Could be
he wants to be Obama’s VEEP. A more honest person than Hillary for Hussein.
Guess he wishes the Fair Tax had been passed! :-)
Estrich just mentioned he’s Jewish. Seems like the owner of the call girl agency is Israeli. hmm
I also think prostitution should be legal. The fact that he broke the law carries little weight with me, because I think it’s a bad law.
But the fact that he’s a hypocrite who has sent others up the river for the same offense ... I’d hang him for that. I can’t stand hypocrites. (And, more to the point, I think hypocrisy is more damaging that law-breaking.)
Wow! Makes you wonder if he's been hypocritical in other ways. This guy is probably as dirty as Bill Clinton.
********************EXCERPT***********************
he was author (1910), of the Mann Act, which forbade, under heavy penalties, the transportation of women from one state to another for immoral purposes.
AND>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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In 1917 the provisions of the law {The Mann Act of 1910] were further extended by the decision in the Caminetti v. United States to include even non-commercial sex. . . The result of such decisions was to change a law that had been designed to prevent white slavery to one designed to enforce morals, even declaring private amorous pleasure trips that crossed state lines to be illegal.
I agree on all counts. Having said that, it boggles the mind why it's illegal for two consenting adults to have sex, when one of the people involved pays money for it. This is while it's perfectly legal for two people to get paid to get into a ring and beat each other to a pulp, or football players to get paid to smash each other, on rare occasions getting seriously injured or even dying. Right now it wouldn't be a crime for me to pay a lady $20 to hit me in the face with a hammer, but if I paid her $20 for something else it would be illegal.....
Did he ever wonder if that $4300 would be pocketed or declared as someone’s income?
He should as an officer of the law.
Double edged sword here. As happy as I am that Mr. Spitzer was taken down, I can’t help but think that those same laws can easily be abused to take down one’s ‘enemies’ by a hildebeast or obamanation Presidency.
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