NY Governor Eliot Spitzer Caught In Prostitution Ring

[Walter Cronkite]

New York Governor Eliott Spitzer came forward in a press conference today (Mar 10) to apologize to his family and admit his involvement with an online prostitution ring currently under investigation.

Spitzer’s announcement this afternoon came following the arrest of four individuals connected to the Emperor’s Club VIP, a high-end, online prostitution ring.

While Spitzer offered no details about his involvement with the Emperor’s Club, the New York Times reported today that a person with knowledge of his role believes he is identified in court papers as "Client #9."

He also allegedly met a prostitute in Washington, D.C.

"Today, I want to briefly address a private matter. I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and that violates my or any sense of right and wrong," Spitzer told members of the press from his office in Manhattan. "I apologize first and most to my family. I apologize to the public, to whom I promise better. I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals. It is about ideas, the public good and doing what is best for the state of New York. But, I have disappointed and have failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family."

Spitzer is best known within the music industry for his 2005 investigation into the major record labels and their use of "payola" to obtain airplay for certain records, during his eight-year stint as New York’s Attorney General.

In July 2005, following a subpoena to all four major labels, Spitzer entered into an agreement with Sony BMG in which the label agreed to pay a $10 million fine and change it’s radio promotions practices.

Four months later, Warner Music Group entered into a similar agreement, paying $5 million to settle the law suit levied by Spitzer.

The last label to settle was EMI, which agreed to a settlement of $3.75 million in June of 2006.

As a result, several DJ’s and programming directors were fired or resigned, as a result of the investigation.

Source: allhiphop.com

[Sodomy]

[rEdRuM]

[The Question]

AP: ...hourly rates depending on
whether the prostitutes were rated with one diamond, the lowest
ranking, or seven diamonds, the highest. The most highly ranked
prostitutes cost $5,500 an hour, prosecutors said..

New York Post: [Spitzer] paid $4,400

Conclusion: Spitzer = kind of a cheapass. let's bump it to seven diamonds next time governor.

[Walter Cronkite]

Spitzer Call Girl Reportedly Identified

The call girl who New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer allegedly paid more than $4,000 to for sex was identified as a 22-year-old aspiring musician from Manhattan, according to The New York Times. "I just don't want to be thought of as a monster," the woman, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, told the Times. "This has been a very difficult time. It's complicated."

New details emerged Wednesday about the call girl at the center of the prostitution scandal engulfing New York's governor, with a newspaper report identifying her as a 22-year-old aspiring musician from Manhattan.

The New York Times reported that the real name of the woman — identified as "Kristen" in court papers alleging that Gov. Eliot Spitzer paid more than $4,000 for prostitutes' services — is Ashley Alexandra Dupre.

Don D. Buchwald, a New York lawyer, confirmed to The Associated Press that he represents Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the same woman in the Times story. "That's as far as I can go," he said.

A man who answered the phone at the home of the woman's mother in New Jersey and identified himself as Dupre's brother, Kyle, told the AP he did not know why Dupre would agree to be interviewed about the scandal.

"I've talked to my sister every five minutes since this happened, and I'm not going to comment on it," he said. "She's just trying to get through this."

Dupre's MySpace page provides a window into her life as she went from a broken home in New Jersey to a music career in the city.

"I have been alone. I have abused drugs. I have been broke and homeless. But, I survived, on my own. I am here, in NY because of my music," she wrote.

In an Aug. 30 blog posting on MySpace, she writes: "The past few months have been a roller coaster with so called friends, lovers, and family ... but its something you have to deal with and confront in order to move on ..."

"What destroys me strengthens me" is the slogan next to a Dupre photograph. The photos show her at various places, including in a bikini on a boat in a tropical locale. The number of hits to the page soared by the tens of thousands after the story broke.

Dupre describes her favorite musical artists as Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera and Frank Sinatra, among many others.

Her Web site boasts a recording of a song, "What We Want." "I know what you want, you got what I want. I know what you need. Can you handle me?" she sings.

She briefly spoke to the Times about the Spitzer scandal. Law enforcement officials identified the governor as a "Client 9" who had a Feb. 13 tryst with "Kristen" and paid her $4,300, according to court papers.

"I just don't want to be thought of as a monster," Dupre told the Times. "This has been a very difficult time. It's complicated."

She told the newspaper she had slept very little since the allegations against Spitzer were revealed.

Dupre told the Times she worried about paying her rent in a ninth-floor Manhattan apartment after her boyfriend recently left her. She said she was considering moving back in with her family in New Jersey.

She declined to comment when asked by the Times when she first met Spitzer and how many times they had been together.

Dupre apparently appeared in federal court Monday as a witness in the case against four people accused of operating the Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring.

Source: AP

[Sodomy]