| New York governor resigns for involving in "prostitution ring" | |
|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2008 09:12 | #21   |
 | The beginning of Spitzer’s end can be traced to three banking transfers that left his personal account at the North Fork Bank in New York last spring and summer. For reasons that have not been satisfactorily explained, these payments totalling $15,000 attracted the attention of bank employees who monitor accounts for signs of suspicious activity. After the terrorist attacks of 2001 on New York and Washington, laws relating to money-laundering were significantly tightened, requiring banks to file so-called “suspicious activity reports” whenever there is evidence that clients might be trying to sidestep routine regulations. Spitzer’s transfers to a company called QAT International Inc – later revealed to be a front for the Emperors Club – were reportedly considered by the bank to be an attempt to avoid another law that requires all transactions over $10,000 to be reported to the US Treasury. Breaking down payments with intent to avoid reporting is an offence known as “structuring”. Yet Spitzer is the son of a multi-millionaire property tycoon and has substantial assets of his own. The notion that as few as three payments from his account of less than $10,000 might be considered suspicious “raises as many questions as answers”, said Dershowitz. “We are talking about a man who is a multi-millionaire with numerous investments and purchases,” he said. “It’s simply none of the federal government’s business that a man may have been moving his own money around in order to keep his wife in the dark about his private sexual peccadilloes.” |
| Mar 16, 2008 09:13 | #22 |
| Prosecution sources said last week they had no idea at first that the money was related to prostitution. Even after a second bank, HSBC, reported suspicious activity at QAT’s account – and a link was found to Spitzer – it was at first assumed that the money might be related to corruption or improper use of political campaign funds. The case was initially turned over to the section of the Manhattan prosecutor’s office that deals with political corruption. The ensuing investigation duly established QAT was banking payments to a prostitution network and that Spitzer was a client. When the case against the one man and three women accused of running the international network reached court earlier this month, it was the presence of a federal prosecutor from the political corruption squad that first alerted New York Times reporters to the possibility that a politician might be involved. It has since been established that both North Fork and HSBC were on the receiving end of Spitzer investigations in his days as attorney-general. In 2003 North Fork was obliged to refund $20,000 to dozens of home-owners after Spitzer claimed that the bank had been charging illegal fees. No evidence has been produced that the bank reporting of Spitzer’s transactions was maliciously intended, yet Dershowitz and other commentators have noted that the system was designed to ferret out drug dealers, the mafia, terrorists and major financial fraud. “Once federal authorities concluded that the ‘suspicious financial transactions’ attributed to Mr Spitzer did not fit any of [these categories], they should have closed the investigation,” said Dershowitz. Instead, they went after Spitzer with the raw, relentless enthusiasm that the governor had so often displayed towards his own targets in the past. And although his speedy resignation defused much of the political tension in New York, many questions remain about how a man so familiar with the politics of personal destruction exposed himself to inevitable ruin. |
| Mar 16, 2008 09:14 | #23 |
| For Tracy Quan, who has written a novel about her call girl experiences in Manhattan, Spitzer was simply nuts to have used an escort agency. “They are constantly being investigated, infiltrated and spied upon,” she said. “That someone like the governor would shop for sex through an internet escort service is mind-boggling.” Former prostitutes lined up to tell television interviewers that powerful men needed an “escape and release” from the pressures of their high-profile lives. “As a professional escort, I spend most of my time with my clothes ON,” declared Ava Xi’an to a newspaper website. “I have found that men are usually looking for companionship and appreciation.” Feminists were infuriated by a number of commentators who blamed it all on wives who fail to make their husbands feel loved. One popular television chat show held a discussion called “refresh your romance”, during which an expert urged wives to take erotic dancing lessons to “unleash the inner vixen”. Spitzer was variously portrayed as an arrogant fool who considered himself above the law; as a burnt-out powermonger who was desperate to be discovered; and as a balder Bill Clinton, doing it simply because he could. The soon-to-be ex-governor still faces possible financial charges, and investigators are checking whether public money may have been used to further his sexual activities. There are also security questions about the whereabouts of his bodyguards while he was secretly meeting prostitutes. The identities of nine other clients mentioned in the prosecution brief remain a mystery. One is reported to be a New York judge; at least one prostitute, named Astrid, operated out of London, where she entertained client No 6. On its website, adorned with the photographs of statuesque escorts, the club declares that “every client is an emperor”. In Spitzer’s case, both literally and figuratively, the emperor turned out to have no clothes. |
| Mar 16, 2008 09:16 | #24 |
| Comics sink their hooks into Spitzer America’s comedians and tabloid headline writers have had a field day with the prostitution scandal featuring Eliot Spitzer: - “Hillary Clinton is now only the second-angriest wife in the state of New York” – Jay Leno - “The governor was only supporting New York’s No 1 industry” – David Letterman - “Eliot Spitzer is set to leave office on Monday – which means a hooker party at the governor’s mansion this weekend” – Jimmy Kimmel - “Politics is the only profession where, when a guy gets caught with a hooker, the wife has to stand by his side. You know, if this guy was a plumber and he got caught with a prostitute, he’d have his wife’s tyre tracks over his head” – Leno - “It’s sad. Spitzer said there is so much he left undone: Amber, Ashley, Rhonda” – Letterman - “The governor-erect” – New York Post - “The name of this prostitute service is the Emperors Club, which sounds better than Whore House, doesn’t it? . . . On the website they rank the girls from one to seven diamonds. The diamonds represent how many you have to buy for your wife after you get caught” – Leno - “He thought Bill Clinton legalised this years ago” – Letterman Next in line New York’s next governor could scarcely be more different from his disgraced predecessor. David Paterson, 53, is a partially blind African-American who was Eliot Spitzer’s running mate in the 2006 elections. He was expected to deliver black votes and nobody imagined that he would step into the top job. Unlike Spitzer he is laid back, self-deprecating and displays a sharp wit. Asked last week if he had ever used a prostitute, he said: “Only the lobbyists.” |
| Mar 16, 2008 11:56 | #25 |
| ((Yet Spitzer is the son of a multi-millionaire property tycoon and has substantial assets of his own. The notion that as few as three payments from his account of less than $10,000 might be considered suspicious “raises as many questions as answers”, said Dershowitz. “We are talking about a man who is a multi-millionaire with numerous investments and purchases,” he said. “It’s simply none of the federal government’s business that a man may have been moving his own money around in order to keep his wife in the dark about his private sexual peccadilloes.”)) The prostituted woman was the end purpose, The crime was the illegal interstate transportation of a woman with the purpose of prostitution, Is he better than the man or woman in Asia that offers prostitutes to western man for a fee? In addition, the transferring of CASH money to dodge. Is he better than the drug trafficker or the terrorist that the law was created to suppress? So, if you are a rich person, the law does not apply to you? You can go ahead and transfer any amount of cash money with out prejudice? However, if you are an average John and do so, then there is intolerance? It makes no sense at all. |
| Mar 16, 2008 12:17 | #26 |
| You girls just amaze me with your sources of information and input on this subject. Maybe we should have real prostitutes running this country( and) maybe we already do in an abstract way. At least with real prostitues we would know where they stand and they know more about the human 'psycho" than 97% of the existing politicians. |
| Mar 16, 2008 13:11 | #27 |
| I just heard this on business media and google it. Quotes: ‘’Is he better than the man or woman in Asia that offers prostitutes to western man for a fee?’’ I never traveled to Thailand, Cambodia and other south east Asian countries, but it’s very to sad to hear from my friends that in those countries there is a slogan: they never look down upon whore, what they laugh at is poverty. In Cambodia, they have no countries, what most women engaged in whore industry. I feel very sorry for those sisters! |
| Mar 16, 2008 13:14 | #28 |
| sorry typo: in cambodia, no industry! |
| Mar 18, 2008 20:45 | #29 |
| It is reported that " Client No.9" become famous after Spitzer's scandal and she will soon release an album. Her "singer-wanna-be" dream will come true. Be notorious is not necessarily a bad thing. Is there a difference between " notorious" and "famous"? |
Page 3 of 3 < Previous Next > Page:
Post a Reply to: New York governor resigns for involving in "prostitution ring"
Copyright © 1998-2024 All rights reserved.