How Spitzer Got Stung

CBS News Has Learned A Bank Noticed Suspicious Activity That Resembled Money Laundering

(CBS)  CBS News has learned the investigation into New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was sparked last summer by a Suspicious Activity Report, or SAR, filed by a financial institution.

Law enforcement officials say the report - created to alert them to money laundering by drug dealers and terrorists - sent up red flags at a Long Island, N.Y., IRS office, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.

In tracing the "unusual movements" of money linked to Spitzer, agents discovered it was not political corruption, as suspected, but a prostitution ring.

It was a sitting governor allegedly going to great lengths to hide the transfer of thousands of dollars in cash into the accounts of shell companies through HSBC and other banks.

According to court papers, the shell companies QAT Consulting Group and QAT International turned out to be fronts for Emperor's Club VIP, the now notorious high-priced online prostitution ring featuring 50 so-called "models" catering to the needs of worldwide clientele.

Through a court-authorized wiretap, the FBI allegedly implicated Spitzer as notorious "Client 9" of the ring, which operated out of a brownstone in Brooklyn, N.Y.

As part of a 47-page complaint filed against four people arrested in the case last week, Client 9's needs and desires are laid out in sordid detail: A tryst at a glitzy Washington, D.C., hotel on the eve of Valentine's Day. Waiting in room Room 871, a pretty, petite brunette named "Kristen," a $1,000-an-hour call girl.

At 9:36 p.m., Kristen reported Client 9 was "coming to her at the hotel." By 12:02 a.m., after all was said and done, Kristen told a booker she had collected $4,300 to clear up an outstanding balance of $2,721.41, and then some.

Adding she "liked" the client with a reputation as "difficult," who sometimes asked "to do things you might not think were safe ... very basic things."

The next morning the governor testified at a bond investment hearing on Capitol Hill, revealing nothing of a side of Eliot Spitzer that he had evidently tried so hard to hide.

[topglock45]

I might be crazy but his wife is smoking hot!!! Isn''t it funny how all the major networks seem to have forgotten that he is a Democrat. Most networks refuse to air that information, yet when the Republican congressman reached under the bathroom stall at the airport everyone knew he was a republican because the major networks continually drove it into everyones head. Liberal news media in America-always a one sided story!!!

[factsmatter-2009]

To cwazywabt. Prostitution is not "legal" in Las Vegas, Carson City, or Reno, and not "legal" in their counties. It is not "illegal" in several other Nevada counties. Also Spitzer is a Democrat, not a Republican so McCain is really unlikely to have had him on his short VP list.

[bobnjersey]

[Seems it is all up to you and the libs as you see it, no?]
[Posted by guysdigdirt at 07:26 PM : Mar 12, 2008]

what do you know ... another moron that knows enough for two posts ... one all about libs and how they cause all the problems ... and the other one about clinton''s bj''s.

two posts ought to do it, right?

[bobnjersey]

[Loser.]
[Posted by guysdigdirt at 07:25 PM : Mar 12, 2008]

hey ... you''re doing it too. i mention nothing but bush ... you mention nothing but clinton. not a mention of anything that i actually had in my post.

so i assume you have nothing to say about your loser leader who screws up pretty much everything he touches?

[carolcape]

Just thought of a joke which a comedian in our area told a while ago, it kind of suits this situation. She said,"listen dear I built a little house for my cat so she''d be comfortable, but I had to call it a DOGHOUSE, because if I called it a CATHOUSE there''d be politicians lined up around the block." Thought it kind of suited this situation.

[bobnjersey]

[And here this story tells me that the IRS is doing the job of Homeland Security by keeping tabs on money. Get real folks.....this smells like a political sting operation. If I were a DEM governor of any state right now, I''''d be dotting my eyes and crossing all t''''s]
[Posted by panhandlpete at 09:11 AM : Mar 12, 2008]

they''re looking at cash movements across the board. and they''re mining any other piece of information they can store in a relational structure (database). although these programs and systems to monitor activity of 300 million americans was covered in all the major papers (nyt, lat, wsj, wp) ... most only recall the big pieces involving wiretaps and phone call record detail.

he''s got many enemies ... and very powerful and wealthy ones at that. it''s amazing that he would ''stand out on that ledge'' for so long w/ the profile he had.

look up Total Information Awareness Network ... whatever you read is likely only what''s been leaked.

[guysdigdirt]

who defines good and bad?
Posted by bobnjersey

Seems it is all up to you and the libs as you see it, no?

[guysdigdirt]

so ... you got the village idiot sitting in your corner ... pretty much has failed at everything he''''s every done ... can''''t string an discernable sentence together w/o some help. ignores the rule of law and p!sses on the ''''****** piece of paper'''' nearly every day (him and gore take turns).

don''''t hear many conservatives talking about that ... in fact ... it''''s as if these attributes don''''t even apply.

funny how that works, huh?
Posted by bobnjersey

That is becasue everytime we bring up this a$4 clinton you talk about you tell us to let the history go and get over it.

At least Spitzer had the honor to resign rather than deny it until it was proven by DNA, then billy boy said he had a different meaning of the word than the dictionary. Loser.

[bobnjersey]

[Don''''t some of you people realize that picking and choosing which kind of "bad behavior" is dismissed, and which is acceptable is precisely what creates the kind of corrupt behavior we appear to despise?]
[Posted by kai1288 at 11:19 AM : Mar 12, 2008]

who defines good and bad?

[carolcape]

The Gov. is unbelievable, the biggest toad that ever walked. He was even insincere in his forgiveness speach. His wife should file for divorce, I mean this has been going on for 10 years. Well, I mean it is hard to believe any of these people that are leaders, the high wages he was getting and he still was greedy to make more illegally. It would not be so bad, but I understand he was a DA and trying to clean up corruption. Sickening individual, hopefully his wife will get out now. 10 to 1 he won''t serve one day in jail.

[bobnjersey]

[I love how the libtards are giving him a pass....you can bet your life there would have been a pitchfork mob if he was a Republican]
[Posted by easeup at 02:28 PM : Mar 12, 2008]

so ... you got the village idiot sitting in your corner ... pretty much has failed at everything he''s every done ... can''t string an discernable sentence together w/o some help. ignores the rule of law and p!sses on the ''****** piece of paper'' nearly every day (him and cheney take turns).

don''t hear many conservatives talking about that ... in fact ... it''s as if these attributes don''t even apply.

funny how that works, huh?

[bobnjersey]

[It seems a great amount of information has been omitted, who is pulling the strings keeping the information hidden? If Ex-Gov. Spitzer is to be prosecuted on any illegal dealings, he ought to know who his accusers are.]
[Posted by j810nts21 at 04:01 PM : Mar 12, 2008]

the details are allegedly illegal to disclose ... there''s an early post (first page or so) where a poster makes this claim.

[guysdigdirt]

As for me, I wouldn''''t mind seeing him as Kristin in cell number 9. Hey cutie...
Posted by neonink

Funny, I agree.

At least he had the cajones to admit what he did was wrong and take the honorable way out rahter than lie about it on camera and then tell more lies by saying he had a different definition of a word than the dictionary has. And hopefully he does not renig on his commitment to resign and then ask if he can change his plea. "just reaching for the t.p. your honor, really..."

[j810nts21]

I thought there was a set amount of money that caused Red Flags to go up? I thought the amount was Ten-thousand dollars, guess I was wrong. What "Unusual Movements of money" led to a Suspicious Activity Report? Was it because it was Spitzer''s account, which Financial Institution alerted the IRS which in turn brought the FBI on to the case? It seems a great amount of information has been omitted, who is pulling the strings keeping the information hidden?
If Ex-Gov. Spitzer is to be prosecuted on any illegal dealings, he ought to know who his accusers are.

[oldsoftee]

Hey william19491, your President for the last 8 years is one of them!

[nolalou]

"well there ya go ... a system setup to find drug dealers and terrorists finds a governor trying to get laid. " Posted by bobnjersey

Sounds like the FBI investigation in New Orleans in 2001 that went on for 4 months, and tapped over 5,000 phone calls, and had 10 full time agents, looking for drug dealers and terrorists, and what did they find? A brothel on Canal street. Geeezzz Prostitution exists in New Orleans, who would have ever guessed!

[neonink]

Do as I say folks, and you''ll be ok.
Just don''t do as I do. Only I get to be King Bee.

Can our politicians fall off their pedestals any faster?

As for me, I wouldn''t mind seeing him as Kristin in cell number 9. Hey cutie...

[easeup-2009]

I love how the libtards are giving him a pass....you can bet your life there would have been a pitchfork mob if he was a Republican.

Spin away, libtards, spin away!

[aaabee-2009]

U.S. Accused of Spying on Those Who Disagree with Bush Policies

WASHINGTON %u2013 While the White House defended domestic surveillance as a safeguard against terrorism, a Florida peace activist and several Democrats in Congress accused the Bush administration on Friday of spying on Americans who disagree with President Bush%u2019s policies.

Richard Hersh, of Boca Raton, Fla., director of Truth Project Inc. of Palm Beach County, told an ad hoc panel of House Democrats that his group and others in South Florida have been infiltrated and spied upon despite having no connections to terrorists.

%u201CAgents rummaged through the trash, snooped into e-mails, packed Web sites and listened in on phone conversations,%u201D Hersh charged. %u201CWe know that address books and activist meeting lists have disappeared.%u201D

The Truth Project gained national attention when NBC News reported last month that it was described as a %u201Ccredible threat%u201D in a database of suspicious activity compiled by the Pentagon%u2019s Talon program. The listing cited the group%u2019s gathering a year ago at a Quaker meeting house in Lake Worth, Fla., to talk about ways to counter military recruitment at high schools.

Talon is separate from the controversial domestic-surveillance program conducted by the National Security Agency.

By William E. Gibson
Republished from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[kai1288]

What''s CRAZY is that some people only dwell on mega problems after it''s too late, and after they have forgiven the small ones along the way. Wake up people!! How the heck do you believe the big problems ones got so *** big.