Results tagged “hookergate”

Yesterday, former governor Eliot Spitzer spoke at Harvard University's ethics center to discuss big business and government, much to the dismay of one of the madams he used for his dalliances with escorts. He mostly discussed the economic crisis, but he did answer a question about the prostitution scandal that brought down his poltiical career. According to the NY Times, a man "with a long gray ponytail sticking out of his baseball hat," began, "I may sound like a conspiracy theorist," and then asked if there were "'ulterior motives' behind the timing of the disclosure of the prostitution ring that he said was leaked to the news media."

Today, former governor Eliot Spitzer will be at Harvard, speaking at the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, discussing, "What Should Be the Rationale for Government Participation in the Market?" But given Spitzer's past, from Troopergate to Hookergate, one person is very upset—a madam who had Spitzer as a client. In a letter to Professor Lawrence Lessig, Kristin Davis wrote, "For nearly 5 years, I supplied Mr. Spitzer with high priced escorts while he was both Attorney General and Governor. For this crime, I served four months on Rikers Island, had all of my assets confiscated and am now considered a sex offender on 5 years probation. Mr. Spitzer broke both state and federal laws and walked away free."

Ashley Dupre's new BFF and mentor may be Russell Simmons (hey, "don't call me a whore, you whores" rant and single were posted on Simmons' website), but Tommy Hilfiger totally outranks the Love Gov hooker in Simmons' book. Page Six reports, "After Hilfiger told [Rusell] Ashley Dupre was unwelcome at Tommy's Fashion Week party at the Jane Hotel, Simmons disinvited Eliot Spitzer's call girl"—the designer's rep explained, "Tommy didn't feel her presence would be appropriate."

Ashley Dupre, who recently called (some? most?) New York City women hypocrites for looking down on her prostituting past, has now been in the NY Post two days in a row. Yesterday, the Post looked at her road to realization—with a sexy fashion shoot, of course (photo slideshow below, which is set to her second single!)—with the former high-class escort offering this pitch line, "Everyone likes an underdog story, and everyone likes a comeback. I'm the poster child for redemption."

Ashley Dupre, aka Kristen the pricey escort that former Govenor Spitzer enjoyed, has a blog post on Global Grind about the neverending Hookergate controversy, which flared up this week with the Post's speculation that Spitzer would run for office again. Which prompts the aspiring singer to write, "I read the front page of the NY Post this week and was happy to see that Mr. Spitzer is moving on with his life and considering getting back into politics. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone deserves a second chance. Me too, right? Well, apparently not. Why? Because many people are liars and hypocrites. Let me give you just a few examples of what I keep encountering, despite my best efforts to move on."

Even though it's officially September, it's still sort of like a slow summer news week—which is perhaps why the NY Post is suggesting on its front page that former governor Eliot Spitzer is considering a new statewide run! The headline is tabloid gold, of course. But is there any truth to the story?

To everyone's prurient delight, a lawyer for the woman who booked clients' "appointments" with ladies from the Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring says that former governor Eliot Spitzer was a regular customer. Marc Agniflio, who represents Temeka Lewis, told reporters that Spitzer's habit "was more than sporadic. It wasn't always more than once a month, but it was sometimes more than once a month."

The last time former governor Eliot and Silda Spitzer voluntarily submitted to photographers' gazes was when Eliot Spitzer announced his resignation. More than a year later, the Daily News spotted them at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel: "The smiling couple joined hundreds of Education Through Music friends and supporters at the eighth annual Children's Benefit Gala honoring Grammy-winning violinist Joshua Bell... They sipped cocktails and occasionally cast lovey-dovey looks at each other while shooting the breeze with folks." The couple, spoofed on SNL after Eliot's downfall, celebrated their 21st anniversary last October. The former governor is working for his father's real estate company and it was reported last year that Silda Spitzer was working for a hedge fund.

       

A year ago today, the NY Times published a story on its website saying that Governor Eliot Spitzer, the crusading former NY State Attorney General who was elected with 69% of the vote in 2006, was "caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a law enforcement official and a person briefed on the investigation." And that sent off a chain of events amongst a motley group of famous (in political circles) and suddenly infamous characters. Click through for trip down Memory Lane.

Perhaps for our listening/reading pleasure (ew!): The AP reports that U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff "has ordered the government to make public sealed documents about wiretaps in the Eliot Spitzer scandal." Specifically: "Documents detailing calls on cell phones used by a prostitution ring whose clients included the former governor." See, the NY Times had sued to get the documents released—and Rakoff ruled in the paper's favor. Rakoff wrote, "There is obvious interest in obtaining information about the origins of an investigation that led, ultimately, to the resignation of the governor of New York.”

The 24-year-old woman who helped manage the escort ring that former Governor Spitzer patronized was sentenced to six months in prison. Cecil Suwal, who grew up in NJ and attended the Blair Academy, had pleaded guilty last summer; at that time, her lawyer said, "She is contrite and she is determined to right her wrongs in a manner that is just and fair... She deeply regrets her actions. She is remorseful." Her lawyer had said Suwal was 18 when she got involved with Mark Brener (now 63), the escort ring's owner, and suggested Brener was a Svengali-like presence—Suwal had a "Property of Mark Brener" tattoo.

Former governor Eliot Spitzer's dalliances with an expensive escort were discovered after the federal authorities noticed "suspicious money transfers." Concerned that Spitzer was being blackmailed, the FBI and IRS found that he was actually paying shell companies set up by the prostitution ring! Now, months later, the NY Times reports a congressional committee is "pursuing what would be the first public examination of the events that prompted the initial inquiry into" Spitzer's banking. House Financial Services Committee member Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) said, "The question was: Why were they looking for this? Is this political retribution?" Testimony could be heard from the Treasury, North Fork (Spitzer's bank) and HSBC (the prostitution ring's bank).

Only six days are left until America gets its first TV interview with Ashley Dupre, the call girl who famously answered the call to Client #9. Next week's 20/20 will feature two segments dedicated to Diane Sawyer interviewing the woman who made headlines for her role in bringing down the short-lived governorship of Eliot Spitzer back in March. Sawyer has already taped the interview with Dupre and sources say that it is more focused on Sawyer's ongoing and extensive investigation of prostitution than it is in digging for salacious details of Hookergate. The "insider" told the Daily News, "People who think this is all about Eliot Spitzer are going to be disappointed. Diane has done extensive reporting on prostitution. This is another chapter in that reporting."

Now that the feds won't press charges against former governor Eliot Spitzer for his dalliances with a prostitute (the DOJ did not find public or campaign funds were used for services from the Emperors Club VIP), many believe it was the right decision. A former prosecutor told the Times the "the federal government does not, as a general rule, prosecute johns in prostitution cases." Manhattan DA (and former Spitzer boss) Robert Morgenthau said, "The guy lost his job, apologized and was publicly embarrassed. I don't believe in kicking someone when they're down. It would only be a misdemeanor anyway." Still, a lawyer for an Emperors Club VIP booker, said it wasn't right his client faced jail, "Spitzer is much the more egregious actor here."

Eliot Spitzer and his wife Silda Wall-Spitzer celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary Friday with a smile. The Daily News pens the dramatic line, "Seven months since he ripped a hole in her heart and left her with little to do but cry." But the paper says that Silda has made her peace with Eliot's very public transgressions and is planning to stay with her husband. On their first anniversary to fall since Spitzer's downfall in March, a friend of the couple's said to the News, "I'm sure it will be a little strange. Things have certainly changed since their last one." The two were spotted having breakfast at a Madison Avenue deli, not all that far from where they married at the Central Park Boathouse in 1987. After breakfast, the couple headed off to their farm upstate to celebrate in private, as they've mostly remained in the months since the scandal broke.

A woman who worked as a part-time booker for the Emperors Club escort service that former Governor Spitzer used has pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to violate the travel act." Tanya Hollander is hoping to avoid jail time. Unlike another colleague who pleaded guilty, she did not get a cooperation deal from the feds. The Daily News reports that Hollander's lawyer Michael Farkas said "if Spitzer isn't charged he'll argue that Hollander would not have been treated as harshly" if Spitzer weren't involved in the ring, "I believe he at the very least is a potential co-conspirator." Hollander, a holistic health counselor, explained to the judge that she took the job because she needed extra money.

Among the charges noted on former Governor Eliot Spitzer's campaign filings, there were two room charges at the Mayflower Hotel--the very same D.C. hotel when he trysted with an expensive hooker on February 13.

A woman who worked part-time for the high class escort service used by former Governor Spitzer has accepted a plea agreement. Tanya Hollander, who is a holistic health counselor, will plead to lesser charges than the Emperors Club's head, Mark Brener, his girlfriend Cecil Suwal who ran the operation, and Tameka Lewis who booked appointments. Brener, Suwal and Lewis have all pleaded guilty to prostitution conspiracy and money laundering. Hollander's lawyer hopes his client can avoid jail time, saying she "is very eager to get back to work, helping people help themselves."

Ashley Alexandra Dupre, also known as "Kristen," the high-class prostitute former governor Eliot Spitzer visited on Valentine's Day eve, strutted her considerable stuff at a New Jersey beach yesterday and there was a photographer on the scene to provide enough photos for the Daily News to give us this gallery.

Stone (who may or may not have left a rude voicemail on Spitzer's dad's phone calling Eliot a "phony, psycho piece of s---") has previously claimed credit for helping tip off the feds about Spitzer. Now he explains in much more detail how he figured out a "hot blonde" hooker had met with Spitzer. Excerpts of NYer article, via Page Six:

"She told me she had a very high-end clientele - she kept using the word 'high-end' - athletes, international businessmen, politicians . . . then she said, 'I almost had a date with Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New Jersey.' She didn't know much about politics. So I asked her, 'Did this guy have a beard?' [like whiskered Jon Corzine]."

Continue reading "Roger Stone Spills More Details About Hookergate"

A prostitution ring named Excalibur! Hookers! Puns about men with big swords! A NY Governor who uses a hooker! Federal authorities who hate the governor! And a blog that gossips about the Manhattan DA! Law & Order stacked the deck last night in its season finale, by trying to involve murder, rising gold prices, Governor Spitzer's dalliances, and back room politics in one episode.

The siren song of the Big Apple lured Ashley Alexandra Dupre back! The 23-year-old known better as "Kristen," former Governor Spitzer's high class prostitute, was spotted taking a bus from NJ (she's been living with her parents) into the Port Authority. Three guesses: the Emperors' Club VIP took a big chunk of her fees; she hasn't been paid for her music; or she believes very strongly in ways to reduce her carbon footprint.

Tameka Rachelle Lewis, a University of Virginia graduate now immortalized as the prostitution ring booker who confirmed an escort's visit with Governor Spitzer, has pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution and money laundering.

First she nabs Mariah Carey's old manager to represent her. Now Ashley Dupré, also known as "Kristen," the hooker who serviced former governor Eliot Spitzer, is suing Joe Francis and his "Girls Gone Wild" operation for $10 million in damages. She says the GGW video was taken when she was underage.

It's a relatively quiet month for revelations about former governor Eliot Spitzer, so the Post serves up an "Exclusive" about a "second call girl" who says the Steamroller like "props."

Roger Stone, infamous GOP operative who formerly consulted for the NY State GOP, tells NY1 that he "told the FBI in November of Spitzer's possible involvement in a prostitution ring." An interview with Stone will be broadcast on tonight's "Inside City Hall."

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has emerged from his upstate seclusion and now has his nose back to the grindstone--this time in the private sector. There was no need to polish his resumé, however, as his new boss is his father. Bernard Spitzer, who is 83 years old and suffering from Alzheimer's, amassed a half-billion dollar real estate and money management empire during his career.

Sure, politicians, pundits, psychiatrists, and anyone else who can string together two words have weighed in on Eliot Spitzer's disgrace. But it's just cuter when a little princess explains it all.

Surprise, surprise: Eliot Spitzer is being linked to Kristin "Billie" Davis's prostitution ring, which got busted earlier this week. Wicked Models, the East Side Madam's operation, toppled on Tuesday, and it looks like it's going to bring down some clients with it (rumor is the list is 10,000 strong).