Spitzer Spent Up To $80,000 On Call Girls

Investigators Say Eliot Spitzer Was A Repeat Customer Who Spent Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars

(CBS/AP) 
The case against Spitzer, a 48-year-old married man with three teenage daughters, started when banks noticed frequent cash transfers from several accounts and filed suspicious-activity reports with the Internal Revenue Service, a law enforcement official told the AP. The accounts were traced back to Spitzer, prompting public corruption investigators to open an inquiry.

The governor has not been charged, and prosecutors would not comment on the case. The governor has retained a large New York City law firm. Michele Hirshman, Spitzer's former deputy attorney general, is representing the governor, said Madelaine Miller, spokeswoman for the Manhattan law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. She would not comment further on Tuesday.

In Albany, Democratic Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who would become governor if Spitzer resigned, was talking to legislative leaders about a possible transition.

Reporters, government workers and the public milled around the state Capitol on Tuesday, waiting for any developments. News vans lined up around the building, and camera operators sat next to their tripods on the front lawn waiting for something to happen.

Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco warned that if Spitzer did not resign within 48 hours, he would call for impeachment. But any impeachment would face a difficult road in the Democrat-controlled Assembly, where articles impeachment would require a majority vote to go to a trial. A trial would be decided by a combined vote of the full Senate, which has a slim GOP majority, and the Court of Appeals.

Tedisco was an early target of Spitzer's abrasive and uncompromising style in Albany. In a private call, an angry Spitzer once described himself to Tedisco as a "steamroller" - he attached a profanity for emphasis - and warned: "I'll roll over you and anybody else."

Privately, several Democrats in the Legislature and in the administration said resignation appeared inevitable. "He's weighing the rest of his life," one Democratic official said sadly.

Late Tuesday, freshman Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand became the first Democratic member of New York's congressional delegation to mention resignation. "This is very grave and sad news," she said. "If these serious allegations are true, the governor will have no choice but to resign."

But more than a day after the scandal broke, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other senior Democrats in the delegation had yet to call on Spitzer to quit.

On Wall Street, where Spitzer built his reputation as a crusader against shady practices and overly generous compensation, cheers and laughter erupted Monday from the trading floor when news broke of his potential ruin.

Many in the financial industry had long complained that the man known as "Mr. Clean" and the "Sheriff of Wall Street" was a sanctimonious bully who was just trying to advance his political career. Many Wall Streeters were delighted to see him get his comeuppance.

"The irony and the hypocrisy is almost too good to be true," said Bryn Dolan, a fundraiser who works with many Wall Street employees. "If he had any shame, he would've already resigned."

[michellem99-2009]

That is alot of money. He blew it. Top it off he is a family man, A disgrace. I wish the legally blind new gov the best as he will do right. I heard him give a talk on the news and hope The people will not be hurt by that out going gov. Be sure to meet his needs by large print. He needs it.

[keithle1]

Boy should have earned a few "freebies" after spending that kind of serious dough?

[kwyk1]

why are we letting him plea bargain.
he knows the law , he works there!!!!
as a person who was in the government he should get no special treatment..........

If this is are Gov. at work , this is not good for our nation.

[ioweign]

A man who f_ornicate_s in the pantry will get his azz in jam...

Confucius

[vmcneal2]

Spitzer..high class call girl...Craig...public toilet. ***, the Republicans can''t seem to do anything right.

[jghutto]

Proverbs says "A fool digs a pit and falls in it."

[subscriber2-2009]

UPDATE #2: Linguistic experts have been consulted and the consensus is that the best definition of "Freudenschade" is the premature exhilaration at the anticipated suffering of others.

-----------------

Lets not be too swift with this so called freudenschade. now that would be like those
damned f.u.c.k.i.n.g. germans .

a little people, greedy, barbarous and cruel that we killed ever so nicely in WWII.

[rational_1]

He should have gone the Hugh Grant route. Probably still would have been caught but he''d be out only $25 instead of $80G.

I really pity his wife - poor woman does not deserve to be dragged through all this so publicly.

[subscriber2-2009]

too bad, he cant get a refund on his ''credit''...

[guysdigdirt]

Governor Spitzer was in the midst of boosting the economy -he''''s a true patriot.
Posted by kenbomc

That is a good one, very funny.

[guysdigdirt]

Spitzer had affairs with female prostitutes. Foley was after teenage boys, Craig was soliciting for attention in a men''''s bathroom stall. It is the nature of their activities, not their affiliation, that determines their coverage.
Posted by Displeased

So you are admitting that ****$exual relations are different than straight relations right, then how come on the other board you were so adamant that both get to marry?

[missglo]

Spitzer put his career and family on the line, by his own lust. $80,000 worth,of N.Y tax money. And the shame he put on his wife and children. Sad

[fibonacci_]

I think guys just need a little something a little too much. This guy had a wife - can''t believe what some guys will do to get their pants off and in action.

[closethippy1]

Prostitution might be illegal but escort services are not.Posted by closethippy1

Man you people never give up! If he''''d have murdered someone you''''d find him not guilty too. It''''s pathetic. If he were republican he would have been hung by now, instead, this news will be buried and forgotten in a week simply b/c he is a dem.
Posted by katg21 at 02:07 PM : Mar 12, 2008

Well, hey, I''m just doing a Rush Limbaugh on all of you rightwing folks who are going nuts over Spitzer just because for the first time in years a Republican is not being accused of breach of ethics.
How do you like me now, eh?

[displeased]

If he were republican he would have been hung by now, instead, this news will be buried and forgotten in a week simply b/c he is a dem.
Posted by katg21

Spitzer had affairs with female prostitutes. Foley was after teenage boys, Craig was soliciting for attention in a men''s bathroom stall. It is the nature of their activities, not their affiliation, that determines their coverage.

[simonsez40]

Oh yeah and some wives stop having *** and gain weight when they get married which is just plain unattractive.
----------------------------------------------------

Posted by anonbene

And men age gracefully with the balding, pot belly and nose hairs growing profusely - maybe she told him to shove it and got her a younger man a LONG TIME AGO!

Moron.

[katg21]

Prostitution might be illegal but escort services are not.Posted by closethippy1

Man you people never give up! If he''d have murdered someone you''d find him not guilty too. It''s pathetic. If he were republican he would have been hung by now, instead, this news will be buried and forgotten in a week simply b/c he is a dem.

[b-easy63]

Prostitution might be illegal but escort services are not.
He used the services of an escort company, he did not pick up a prostitute from the streets.
Therefore, Governor Spitzer didn''''t brake any laws and should remain in office.
Also keep in mind that he used his own money.
Thank you.


Posted by closethippy1 at 11:40 AM : Mar 12, 2008

WRONG. Escort services which actually procure women to have sexxx for money have a few other names: wh.orehouses, bordellos, madam''s establishments and all are ILLEGAL. True escort services only provide company to public outings and no sexxx for money can be involved.

Anyone in vice and most normal people know that the term "escort service" is a euphemism for a wh.ore house. You have been a hippy perhaps--just a smidge too long.

[kenbomc]

Governor Spitzer was in the midst of boosting the economy -he''s a true patriot.

[b-easy63]

I look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been," Spitzer said, with his expressionless wife Silda standing at his side. "There is much more to be done, and I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people''s work."


Yeah. "the people''s work, should be to bring a law suit as well as a criminal case against you for soliciting prostitutes, embezzling funds, and using public monies during the commission of a crime. We''re guessing about 80K in restitution and about 10 years in the arms of a new prison Bubba and all the gigs Bubba can get you for a pack of cigarettes--ought to cover it.