New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer publicly apologized today after being sensationally linked to a prostitution ring. The married dad of three spoke out yesterday after breaking the shocking news to his senior administration officials.
Spitzer – known as a get-tough prosecutor who has previously brought down prostitution rings himself – refused to directly discuss his role in the ring.
But after reports hit the web that he “had been involved in a prostitution ring” he made his publicly apology.
Insisting it was a “private matter”, he admitted he “acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family”.
“I apologise first and most importantly to my family,” he said.
“I apologise to the public whom I promised better.”
He insisted politics was not about “individuals” but ideas for the “best of New York”.
“I disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself,” he said.
Spitzer did not say if he was resigning from his powerful post. But he said: “I now must dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.”
The New York Times had said Spitzer was being linked in court papers as part of a ring in which four people were arrested last week. It claimed he was caught on an FBI wiretap as he arranged to meet a high-end prostitution.
The case he is being linked to involved prostitutes who charge at least $3,000 an hour, with clients paying $50,000 to have a girl for a weekend.
The Emperors Club is believed to supply girls I in New York, Washington, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, London, Paris and Vienna.
Earlier the New York Sun reported that prosecutors specializing in government corruption cases were leading the investigation into that prostitution ring.
Three of the assistant U.S. attorneys assigned to the case were part of the U.S. attorney’s public corruption unit, the Sun reported. The unit investigates possible wrongdoing by government officials.
The governor learned that he had been implicated in the prostitution probe when a federal official contacted his staff last Friday, according to the person briefed on the case.
The governor informed his top aides Sunday night and this morning of his involvement. He cancelled all his appointments and made his statement shortl after the New York Times started making enquiries and ran the story on its website.
The governor’s aides appeared shaken, and one of them began to weep as they waited for him to make his statement at his Manhattan office.
Mr. Spitzer was seen leaving his Fifth Avenue apartment just before 3 p.m. with his wife of 21 years, Silda, heading to the news conference.
The man described as Client 9 in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, Emperors Club VIP, on the night of February 13, according to the Times.
Spitzer traveled to Washington that evening, according to a person told of his travel arrangements. The affidavit says that Client 9 met with the woman in hotel room 871 but does not identify the hotel.
Federal prosecutors rarely charge clients in prostitution cases, which are generally seen as state crimes. But the Mann Act, passed by Congress in 1910 to address prostitution, human trafficking and what was viewed at the time as immorality in general, makes it a crime to transport someone between states for the purpose of prostitution.
The four defendants charged in the case unsealed last week were all charged with that crime, along with several others.
Ironically, Spitzer gained attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of wrongdoers – including prostitution rings.
In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.
“This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. “It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”
[Source: AP]
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