F. Scott Fitzgerald said "There are no second acts in American lives," but he never met Mark Brener and Cecil Suwal, the husband and wife team behind The One World Initiative, "The World-View that Guarantees Your Happiness, Health, Wealth, and Success in Everything You Do." After going to prison for operating the escort service Emperors Club VIP, which counted disgraced ex-Governor Eliot Spitzer as a client, Brener and Suwal are back in business! This time they're not pimping out women to high power johns, they're "empowering" everyday folk with a seminar that promises to help you "become immortal and adore every minute of it. Live the life of your dreams." The cost is $35,000, which may seem steep, but who can put a price on immortality, dream fulfillment, and, um, empowerment? more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

The 23-year-old woman who helped run the prostitution ring that counted former governor Eliot Spitzer as a customer is pleading guilty to money laundering charges. more ›