Eliot Spitzer and family...
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.
He won’t get naile for the prostitution rap. He will go down (poor choise of words?)for the money laundering aspect of the transactions.
Obviously he was thinking with some other part of his body than his head.
I agree because he was planning on running for Prez in 2012 and now he will have a hard time doing that mainly because everyone in the NY power circles hates his guts.
MSM will not take up for him as they would for your typical Democrat.
John
Oh....aye...
It’s going to be a long, hot summer.
lol And right now it's still technically illegal to drive a car on Main Street in the town I live in. The law was passed in the early 1900s when horses were the primary means of travel. The law was never repealed.
Heard about it on the news while driving home from work (while listening to Sean Hannity).
So how did he win two terms as Attorney General of New York and a term as Governor?
“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.”
‘Cause in the other instances the soul is not being sold. Not everything is physical. Why is rape considered such a heinous crime? A woman can get raped with NO physical damage. And yet she is horribly damaged. Why is that? In what way was she violated?
Also, because it makes men absolute terds. Rather than protecting and defending women and children, they pay them to destroy themselves. It’s the worst of a man.
Also, because NO woman does it like any other career choice. Almost uniformly, they do it because:
1. they are addicts and need to get high
2. they were molested as kids and have a psycho sickness to keep punishing themselves
3. they are sexual slaves or victims of pimps.
I am sorry that on a forum as intelligent as Free Republic that I often have to spell these things out for people.
Finally, prostitution destroys families by encouraging and legitimizing fornication and adultery. This damages society at large and children in particular.
A few moments’ thought could have produced these reasons. I know, many would like it to be in the same class as buying a pack of gum from a nice lady. It is not and it can not be.
yeah, but he ducked the sales tax, didn’t pay a use tax, and pro’ly had a smoke afterward.
As I recall, he should have issued her a 1098 as a contractor. One of our resident CPA’s can correct me perhaps.
Shoulda had a stroke afterward. Would’ve saved the taxpayers a lot of money for a trial.
Is that his family? I feel so sorry for his daughters and spouse. Hopefully they’ll be able to get beyond this guy’s betrayl.
Eliot Spitzer and family...
1099 perhaps?
True, but it’s only “money laundering” because prostitution is illegal. If he were buying a widescreen TV with the $4300, and paying cash for it, there would be nothing to get him for.
In any case, he’s a hypocrite. I wish that were illegal, but it isn’t.
Tanya Hollander...mmmm... wasn’t there another Hollander about 40 years ago who had this claim to fame?
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