Emperors Club VIP Head Hopes for Sentencing Sympathy

Mark Brener, the 63-year-old whose Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring helped bring down former governor Eliot Spitzer, wants some leniency when he's sentenced by the feds on Friday, but the Daily News reports prosecutors aren't impressed with his pleas. Brener "cites the death of his wife and the anti-Semitism he suffered as a kid as reasons he should catch a break," but Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Stein wrote in court papers, "Brener is not alone in having suffered discrimination. Similarly, while the death of his first wife, to whom he appears to have been truly devoted, is certainly sad, it hardly seems to be a circumstance that would inevitably lead to a life devoted to crime." The feds think Brener should be in prison for at least 2 years. His 24-year-old ex-girlfriend, Cecil Suwal (pictured, with Brener), who helped him run the operation, was sentenced to 6 months last week.

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By Jen Chung in News on February 4, 2009 11:37 AM

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Clarice City

How many prostitution rings were run by holocaust survivors? Probably not too many, right?

smacky

wa wa wahhhhhhhhh. no sympathy scumbag

jaycjay

Once devoted or not, it kind of seems like he'd gotten over the death of his wife by the time he shacked up with his 19-year old girlfriend.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

hang him high.

babyhitler

"the anti-semitism he suffered as a kid". hahaha good one. He fought the stereotype of being a greedy unscrupulous jew by becoming one.

NannyState

Hiding behind the death of one's wife is despicable. Hiding behind anti-semitism is predictable. Running a high class prostitution ring that ensnares a high-profile Governor is...fabulous!

FunChop

The city needs money, right?

Just imagine how much money legalized prostitution would bring in. Once all of the little shops in times square close because they can't pay rent, why not revitalize the neighborhood as a red light district? Toursim would increase and that equalls more revenue for the state.

Of course this makes way too much sense. Much better to throw away tax dollars to hopelessly mismanaged banks.