How Spitzer Got Stung

(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.