New York Governor Busted in High Dollar Prostitution Ring

Eliot Spitzer, who made his name bringing suits against crooked investment firms on Wall Street as attorney general for New York, and then went on to become governor, was caught as a client of an 'international' prostitution ring:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive...2spitzer1.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4424507&page=1

I gots to say I was surprised.

CR

Just goes to show, prostitution should be legal and regulated. There's always gonna be a hot young thang who wants money, and there's always gonna be an old thing who has it.

That said, I am surprised. Spitzer's public persona was all about incorruptibility. Any bets on whether or not he resigns?

I hope he resigns tomorrow. Scuzbucket. I never liked the dude.

Apparently you can't think of him as being cheap. I suppose that counts for something.:rolleyes3:

I would sleep with him for 5,500$ :ekk:

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Originally Posted by Strike For The South

I would sleep with him for 5,500$ :ekk:

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$5500 an hour.

.
You're cheap. :2cents:
.

Is this a crime in the US? If not, what's the problem?

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Spitzer, who officials say is identified in a federal complaint as "Client 9," arranged for a prostitute "Kristen" to meet him in Washington, D.C.

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So what? A man meets a prostitute. :drama2:

If he didn't do it during working-time and payed for it himself, a lot of noise over nothing then

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Originally Posted by HoreTore

Is this a crime in the US? If not, what's the problem?

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Yes it is a crime AFAIK.

so stupid. porn is on the internet for a reason, guy. is it really that hard to keep it in your pants?

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Originally Posted by Big_John

so stupid. porn is on the internet for a reason, guy. is it really that hard to keep it in your pants?

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Well, masturbation with the member still in the pants can be a problem, though still very possible. It is, however, recommended that you at least unzip it, unless you happen to be wearing very wide pants.

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Originally Posted by HoreTore

Well, masturbation with the member still in the pants can be a problem, though still very possible. It is, however, recommended that you at least unzip it, unless you happen to be wearing very wide pants.

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taken under advisement.

Quick crib sheet for our non-locals:

1. Prostitution is illegal in almost all locales (Nevada -- but not Las Vegas -- being the only exception I know of). I personally do not agree with its illegality as I believe it makes the situation worse for all involved, but it was and is a crime under U.S. law.

2. Money and or prostitutes crossing state lines for purpose of prostitution is a federal crime and not just a state or local crime (illegal interstate commerce).

3. The governor in question had made his political name as an "ethics is everything" public prosecutor who prosecuted Wall Street financiers for shoddy ethics and, among other things, several prostitution rings.


Analysis:

Point three, of course, is one of the reasons the episode will be political suicide for him. It's one of those salicious and ironic scandals the media loves to play up. It should suffice that he'll have to resign office to avoid prosecution and that he now has official marriage problems -- instead we'll get coverage of everything -- including sex act preference -- as the 24-hour we have to fill the air with something news media overblows the whole stupid thing. :yes:

There are times I miss the "old days" when he'd have been quietly pulled aside and given the choice to resign to avoid public humiliation -- and we could avoid public tawdriness -- but those times are past.

It should not be illegal to sell something that you can perfectly legally give away for free.....that´s all I have to say on the matter of legalizing prostitution.

as for this sap......he´s screwed now.....the blood is in the water and the media sharks are circling.

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Originally Posted by HoreTore

Is this a crime in the US? If not, what's the problem?

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Um, prostitution is illegal in a lot of countries.

Personnally, I'm fine with it that way.

Seamus wraps up how most media will play the story, the next chapter of which will include his resignation, and the Missus' vow to "stand by her man".

Interesting bits in the initial reports likely to be glossed over include:

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The suspicious financial activity was initially reported by a bank to the IRS

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Is this a post-9-11 requirement? Would he have been busted for the same 'financial activity' in 1999?

and:

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Prosecutors reportedly have a series of e-mails and wiretapped phone conversations of Spitzer.

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Are these the new-fangled 'warrantless'-type taps, or did a judge review and issue warrants for surviellance of a state gov?

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Originally Posted by KukriKhan

Is this a post-9-11 requirement? Would he have been busted for the same 'financial activity' in 1999?

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Not sure of all the particulars in the banking industry, but insurance and finance have higher "reporting" requirements than before as a result of the Patriot Act and all insurance agents have to take a course on preventing money-laundering through insurance.

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Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh

Not sure of all the particulars in the banking industry, but insurance and finance have higher "reporting" requirements than before as a result of the Patriot Act and all insurance agents have to take a course on preventing money-laundering through insurance.

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Silly Americans, remember FINCEN. Banks will also report multiple transactions of under $10,000 if it looks like an attempt to avoid detection. Trading cattle and camels is a far safer means of payment.

Now I haven't done a study on this, but does anyone notice that when it's a Democrat scandal, news reports seem to seldom mention their party affiliation?

It doesn't appear in the abcnews link or in this story I just read. When this first broke, I had to use Wikipedia to confirm what I thought- he's a Democrat. I never really liked the guy much, his anti-corruption crusading often smacked of plain populism.

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Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh

2. Money and or prostitutes crossing state lines for purpose of prostitution is a federal crime and not just a state or local crime (illegal interstate commerce).

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As a side note, I believe the Mann Act makes it a federal crime to transport someone you're not married to across a state line for sex.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Caminetti v. United States (242 U.S. 470, 484-85) (1917). The Court decided that the Mann Act applied not strictly to purposes of prostitution, but to other noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons. Thus consensual extramarital sex falls within the genre of “immoral sex.”

:dizzy2:

Reminds me of a joke I've heard:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Once there was a marine biologist, named Dr. Panglos, who loved dolphins. (When I say he loved dolphins though, I’m not talking about in any kind of “sick” way; he just loved to study them). He spent his time trying to feed and protect his beloved creatures of the sea. One day, in a fit of inventive genius, he came up with a serum that would make dolphins live forever!

Of course he was ecstatic. But he soon realised that, in order to mass produce this serum, he would need large amounts of a certain compound that was only found in nature in the metabolism of a rare South American myna bird. Carried away by his love for dolphins, however, he decided that he would go to the zoo and steal one of these birds.

As he was arriving at the zoo an elderly lion was escaping from its cage. The Lion’s name was Leo, which wasn’t too original of a name for a lion if you ask me, but it’s probably not important to the story. Anyway, the zoo keepers were alarmed and immediately began combing the zoo for the escaped animal, unaware that it had simply lain down on the sidewalk and had gone to sleep since it was the Lion’s regular naptime anyway.

Meanwhile, the marine biologist arrived at the zoo and stole his bird. He was so excited by the prospect of helping his dolphins that he stepped absent mindedly over the sleeping lion on his way back to his car. Immediately, 15 policemen converged on him and arrested him for the crime of transporting a myna across a staid lion for immortal porpoises.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Reminds me of a joke I've heard:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Once there was a marine biologist, named Dr. Panglos, who loved dolphins. (When I say he loved dolphins though, I’m not talking about in any kind of “sick” way; he just loved to study them). He spent his time trying to feed and protect his beloved creatures of the sea. One day, in a fit of inventive genius, he came up with a serum that would make dolphins live forever!

Of course he was ecstatic. But he soon realised that, in order to mass produce this serum, he would need large amounts of a certain compound that was only found in nature in the metabolism of a rare South American myna bird. Carried away by his love for dolphins, however, he decided that he would go to the zoo and steal one of these birds.

As he was arriving at the zoo an elderly lion was escaping from its cage. The Lion’s name was Leo, which wasn’t too original of a name for a lion if you ask me, but it’s probably not important to the story. Anyway, the zoo keepers were alarmed and immediately began combing the zoo for the escaped animal, unaware that it had simply lain down on the sidewalk and had gone to sleep since it was the Lion’s regular naptime anyway.

Meanwhile, the marine biologist arrived at the zoo and stole his bird. He was so excited by the prospect of helping his dolphins that he stepped absent mindedly over the sleeping lion on his way back to his car. Immediately, 15 policemen converged on him and arrested him for the crime of transporting a myna across a staid lion for immortal porpoises.

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That joke is awesome. Not really funny, but awesome.

What a prat. Deary me.

At least if you are going to do it, do it so no one knows!

:beam:

His reputation is in tatters, but from what I see and read of him, it should be political moves and ineptitude which drives him from office, not having sex with a prostitute. He shouldn't resign and the electorate should be given the opportunity to make the ultimate judgement - maybe the Dem party electorate first, as to whether they want him standing!

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Originally Posted by JAG

What a prat. Deary me.

At least if you are going to do it, do it so no one knows!

:beam:

His reputation is in tatters, but from what I see and read of him, it should be political moves and ineptitude which drives him from office, not having sex with a prostitute. He shouldn't resign and the electorate should be given the opportunity to make the ultimate judgement - maybe the Dem party electorate first, as to whether they want him standing!

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I doub't that he'll resign - if he's as much of a scumbag as most people believe that he is (with a whole host of other scumbag actions) he'll drag it out like Clinton did. The thing is, Clinton cheated on his wife in his office and then purjured himself. Spitzer cheated on his wife, rented a prostitute and engaged in a federal felony by laundering money across state lines.

Plus he's a jerk.

We are his bosses, he can resign or face the firing squad. In NY though, most people are scum themselves (i don't have any links to polls), so I'm sure that they will accept it in time and it will set the bar to a new low.

He'll stay in office and NY will be even lower on the ethical totem poll than it was.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Now I haven't done a study on this, but does anyone notice that when it's a Democrat scandal, news reports seem to seldom mention their party affiliation?

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Oh yeah, big time! It's like a conspiracy!

NY Times: "The governor, a Democrat in his first term ..."

AP: "The first-term Democrat was caught ..."

Bloomberg: "Spitzer, a Democrat, was caught ..."

BBC: "There was little sympathy on display for Mr Spitzer, a first-term Democratic governor ..."

Reuters: "Spitzer, a married 48-year-old Democrat who investigated prostitution ..."

It's too much to be coincidence, man! Martha, fetch my tinfoil immediately!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

As a side note, I believe the Mann Act makes it a federal crime to transport someone you're not married to across a state line for sex.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Caminetti v. United States (242 U.S. 470, 484-85) (1917). The Court decided that the Mann Act applied not strictly to purposes of prostitution, but to other noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons. Thus consensual extramarital sex falls within the genre of “immoral sex.”

:dizzy2:

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Do I understand this a'right? You have a law that, should one cross a state line with one's girlfriend for a bit of how's-yer-father, sends one to jail? (But delightfully, if one escorts two or three such lovelies to awful perdition, one only gets the single sentence?)

No wonder the prisons are full. :shocked2:

(Loved the joke, by the way. :laugh4: )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Now I haven't done a study on this, but does anyone notice that when it's a Democrat scandal, news reports seem to seldom mention their party affiliation?

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like Lemur already pointed out, is political affiliation is mentioned a'plenty in a lot of news items.

But like we already discussed before a few months ago...Republicans will normally catch more flak for stuff like this because they entitle themselfs as the "morals" party...so when they are found to have clay feet it´s pretty funny on top of everything...

I would just like to point out that yet again...

you imediatly know that this is a Democrat because he was caught having sex with FEMALE prostitutes :laugh4:


couldn´t resist that one :2thumbsup:

He can always claim that he did it because he was trying to bust that prostitution ring too. Some entrapment can go a far way y'know :grin:

On a side note, he endorsed Clinton while his deputy endorsed Obama if I read one of the articles correctly.

“Adultery”
Rumours have spread about his adulterous affair. -2 Influence

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Originally Posted by Ronin

I would just like to point out that yet again...

you imediatly know that this is a Democrat because he was caught having sex with FEMALE prostitutes :laugh4:

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HEY-O!

:laugh4: