Spitzer Springs A Leak
As you all undoubtedly know by now, the huge breaking news is about New York Governor Elliot Spitzer’s apparent ties to a prostitution ring. The New York Times reports:
Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning.
Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides inside his Fifth Avenue apartment early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He scheduled an announcement for 2:15 after inquiries from the Times.
Mr. Spitzer, a first-term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform and end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.
Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.
But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.
Spitzer has now held a brief press conference where he admitted that he had betrayer the trust of his family and the public and is going to take "some time" to work out his path forward.
It appears that this emanates out of the arrest and charging last Thursday, March 6, 2008, of four people said to be involved in an international prostitution ring. The investigation and charges were announced by the office of Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY).
Federal authorities arrested four people Thursday on charges of running an online prostitution ring that serviced clients in New York, Paris and other cities and took in more than $1 million in profits over four years.
The ring, known as the Emperor’s Club V.I.P., had 50 prostitutes available for appointments in New York, Washington, Miami, London and Paris, according to a complaint unsealed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The appointments, made by telephone or through an online booking service, cost $1,000 to $5,500 an hour and could be paid for with cash, credit card, wire transfers or money orders, the complaint said.
…
As part of the investigation, federal agents worked with a woman who claimed to have worked for the Emperor’s Club as a prostitute in 2006, according to court papers. An undercover agent posed as a potential client and arranged appointments by phone and online.After obtaining authorization to tap the club’s phones, federal agents recorded more than 5,000 calls and text messages and had access to 6,000 e-mail messages, court papers said. Many of these were somewhat mundane requests for appointments. The authorities — the case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the F.B.I. — did not identify any of the clients.
Now, already questions have been raised about whether there is any tie in to all of the wiretapping/snooping/driftnetting we have been discussing, the possibility of payback by prior Spitzer targets such as former NYSE chief Dick Grasso, Maurice Greenberg and others. These are all valid topics for discussion, so trash talk it up folks.
Clearly from the Times article, the investigation, and Spitzer’s portion in particular, emanate out of a wiretapping investigation. So, we know that much, but are there any tie ins to our usual subjects of interest? The other subject I am interested in is what effect this revelation has for Democratic politics, both national and in New York, and what implications it has for the upcoming elections. There are a ton of facets to unpack here, jump in and start unpacking.
UPDATE ONE: Here is a link to a PDF of the criminal complaint in the prostitution case. Spitzer is apparently "Client 9". I do not know much about Michael Garcia, the USA for SDNY. He appears to have been a career prosecutor with the USA office in SDNY for about ten years between 1992 and 2001 and then acting head of the INS for the Bush Administration before being named USA for SDNY. If anybody (paging LHP) knows any more helpful information on Garcia, please post in comments.
Also, the Republican Governor’s Conference has already come out with a statement deploring Spitzer’s tawdry conduct and demanding his resignation. Good to hear that come from a squeaky clean outfit like the GOP eh? There are signs emerging that Spitzer will, indeed, resign quickly. That would promote the Lieutenant Governor of New York, David Paterson, to the top spot in Albany. Paterson is a lawyer, long time New York activist and politician and is apparently well thought of. Interestingly, he is legally blind. Sounds at first blush like a pretty admirable guy.
UPDATE TWO: Jane reminds us that Spitzer’s campaign theme was to "Bring The Passion Back To Albany". This part is starting to porm some credible basis for the suspicions we have been discussing about DOJ and snooping irregularities being involved in the mix. From Jane’s article at FDL:
A source familiar with the investigation into the Emperor’s Club prostitution ring says that the defendants in the case are the head of the club, the day-to-day business manager and two booking agents. Further, the case has apparently been done for quite a while, and the US Attorney in charge — Michael Garcia — "has been tearing his hair out" trying to get someone higher up at the DoJ in Washington to look at the prosecution memo and sign off, because of the need to get their authorization before indicting a public figure.
Garcia continued to pursue the case pending the authorization for indictment (a common prosecutorial practice), which is how the February 13 encounter (below) was included in the complaint. There are also evidently surveillance reports of Spitzer entering the hooker’s hotel room, in addition to audio tapes from the wiretaps.
I wonder if the delay from DOJ Main was in order to make sure to roll up a high flying Democrat before rendering an indictment?
UPDATE THREE: Well, the gig may be up. Is looking like it was Spitzer they were after all along. From ABC News via TPM:
The federal investigation of a New York prostitution ring was triggered by Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s suspicious money transfers, initially leading agents to believe Spitzer was hiding bribes, according to federal officials.
It was only months later that the IRS and the FBI determined that Spitzer wasn’t hiding bribes but payments to a company called QAT, what prosecutors say is a prostitution operation operating under the name of the Emperors Club. …The suspicious financial activity was initially reported by a bank to the IRS which, under direction from the Justice Department, brought in the FBI’s Public Corruption Squad.
"We had no interest at all in the prostitution ring until the thing with Spitzer led us to learn about it," said one Justice Department official
.
Okay, game on. This is starting to reek.
Courtesy RockPaperScissors ‘cross the way, here are some docs at TPM.
The second I heard the Feds were involved I became suspicious. Spitzer is such a high-profile target.
EPUd from downstairs…
I don’t think you need high-tech surveillance to bust someone for patronizing a prostitute – nor does it necessarily have to involve the US Attorney scandal. Spitzer has lots of enemies, from Rudy to Frank Bruno to any number of powerful people on Wall Street, it would not be a stretch to think that they were having him tailed the old-fashioned way, or simply that one of the girls or the pimps squealed. Whatever you think of the sex aspect of it, I’m not even sure prostitution is a crime in DC or NY (as opposed to solicitation for the purposes in a public place) very bad judgment by Spitzer, just like it was bad judgment for Bill Clinton to take up with Monica.
PS Although the NYT is stating that Spitzer may have violated the Mann Act by arranging for the prostitute to cross state lines for immoral purposes, by arranging for her to meet him in Washington from NYC. So, there may be a federal angle for Spitzer to be charged, although I doubt it, the targets seem to be the pimps, and Spitzer is very high-value collateral damage.
How fing stupid can you be, literally.
And as I commented on FDL, apparently this wasn’t his first time:
Apparently the feds are involved because people are being charged under the Mann Act, as the prostitutes crossed state lines. I don’t really see how it has implications for November. It’s just sad, f**king sad. I’m pissed. A career (and maybe a family) goes down in flames because of sheer stupidity, lust, and hubris. Who takes his place if (when) he resigns?
As to the Democratic politics, better to get this out of the way long before the fall elections, where the Dems have a chance to get the State Senate – Spitzer’s ability to pull this off had been in doubt even before this scandal due to other potential scandals. If Hillary is elected President, and Spitzer resigns, NY politics is wide open – vacant Senate seat, vacant governors’ chair….does Bloomberg go for Governor? Does RFK Jr? Or does he go for the Senate as the heir to his father’s name, it was interesting that RFK Jr. didn;t go on the Obama train with Teddy and Caroline….
He’s going to try to ride this out. He’d be able to, I think, if he didn’t have the rep as a crusader.
It’s amazing to me that people can screw up like this, given our scandal history, but then again, human nature is immutable.
“After obtaining authorization to tap the club”.
BMAZ, Don’t you think they got authorization so as to look better in the public’s eye? But really, didn’t the leak spring thru the Quantico Switch?
I don’t know about the authorization question. You are supposed to get authorization; maybe something was simply just done right for once. Time will tell. I will say this, the USA office for SDNY has for a very long time had a reputation for being one of the finest in the land. I am sure that during the W years it has taken a few hits to it’s core, but there is a lot of good solid history there and, to the best of my knowledge, it has stayed fairly above board.
Indeed it truly has. Not to mention a former judge from the district in Justice.
Heh heh, well that isn’t a positive at this point….
Uh, yeah. Of course, the USA and judiciary live separately, and I seriously agree about the high rep of the former. They’re practically street legends in the City.
But this tale here seems to have a nastily political arc to me, whatever foolishness and foibles are also involved in it.
The Goopers would attack any wiretap as illegal, claim invasion of privacy, march out the troops of decency to opine as to their saviour’s forthrightness and valour (and how often he changes his soiled diapers), claim that he’s already repented and been Saved Again, claim this hoop-di-doo is no more than attempted political payback, claim that the prostitute was an illegal alien (Ms. Abducted from Chiang Mai, perhaps) who should be arrested, and then claim she didn’t give fair value for the money allegedly paid.
And Democrats are wondering whether Gov. Spitzer should resign at 4.00 or 5.00 pm today?
What are they thinking? This isn’t about Mr. Spitzer’s personal life; family, friends, prosecutors and supporters can do that separately. The public fight is about his political position. Sort out the wheat from the chafe. Explore the options. Line up alternatives to maintain political control if events legitimately require a change of personnel.
This is NOT a parlour game; it is a streetfight over political power in New York, New York City, Wall Street and nationally. Those knives ain’t rubber. Fight back.
Quite so. We’ll see how it plays out, but some of the more bizarre speculation (the Mann Act?! Shades of Jack Johnson!) sounds intended to stampede the herd to me.
I’ll be glad when it’s no longer necessary to mistrust everything that comes down the pike.
Man, isn’t that the truth. That is exactly why what Bush did in terms of purging the USAs and politicizing the DOJ is so freaking critical, and why the Democrats are so totally derelict in not forcing accountability through impeachment.
Ishmael @7 – That is exactly the kind of political ramifications I was wondering about. This is a pretty big tree to fall over; it is going to have some effects.
There have been times I’ve wondered why the Democrats seem to go against their constituents interests, some of it just didn’t make sense…unless, I thought, the Republicans have something on them. I think this happens to be one that popped up unexpectedly (no pun). Wall Street, K Street, the Mayflower…remember the rumors around John Dean and the tin foiled hat theory that the burglars were after a list of “John’s”? Moses went to the mountain and when he came back down there was a party going on. That’s what we’re here for, I vote for more liberal sex laws. Let’s be like “Old Europe”!
At least it wasn’t a betrayal involving public toilet stalls at airports and people of the same sex (not that there’s anything wrong with being gay…it’s the hypocrisy).
The Dems betray their family is slightly less sordid ways than the Rethugs. I was going to say that they also do it without first setting themselves up on a pedestal while decrying “immorality” blah blah and then being guilty of the very act that they were vehemently moralizing against but Numbnuts Spitzer came in on a platform that included NOT doing the same old same old politician shit.
As for ramifications for the Democraps in the general election, I just don’t see any tie-in unless a bunch of others wide and far are also about to get outed (perhaps due to illegal warrantless wiretapping by BushCo that started prior to 9/11).
One measly NY Dem politico with a dick escaped from his pants doesn’t do jack to the overall party.
Spitzer has decided to tough it out for a while, probably commissioning polls and seeing if he can survive with an apology and the rehab route – if he has violated the relevant DC or NY prostitution statutes, I don’t see how he can stay on, given the fact that he is a Democrat, and only Republicans like Vitter are allowed to stay in office and use hookers at the same time.
An indictment under the federal Mann Act – essentially, transporting persons across state lines for immoral purposes – gets the fight out of New York state court and into national, federal court. The relentlessly non-partisan and even-minded judiciary appointed by George Bush, guided by the relentlessly ethical, forthright and fair as George Washington Ashcroft/Gonzales/Mukasey Department of Justice.
Normal patterns of discovery and investigation of unethical or criminal conduct in public office NO LONGER APPLY. Yes, there is work to do to restore those patterns. But it hasn’t been done yet. This is still the Bush administration.
The only dirty trick Karl Rove dislikes is one he hasn’t thought of yet. Spitzer may have been stupid, he may have committed illegal acts. Maybe not. But he is primarily a political target.
By the way, I did an update with some links for documents and also some info on Spitzer’s likely successor.
25 years ago, I was living in Manhattan’s Upper West Side (Ungentrified). I knew Dave Paterson from school days on Long Island. At that time he was working on his early campaigns to represent Upper Manhattan and Harlem as a State Representative. There were several weekends of going door-to-door in GOTV operations. Hard work, but a good time.
Short story is that Dave was successful at campaigning. He is also successful at representing his constitutents. He eventually moved into the NYS Senate and became Minority Leader at at time of Republican ascendancy. IMHO he is a good people’s representative and a strong politician.
He is legally blind, and that is basically irrelevant. He has damn near a photographic memory and a ’steel trap mind’. He can and has played with the Big Dogs.
Ooo, I hope Garcia wasn’t at INS very long, just out of concern for the man. Even before the DHS era, that place could ruin anyone’s mojo from what many foreign students and green card holders have told me.
I must need a new tinfoil hat to wonder if somebody at the WSJ had a heads-up about Spitzer and decided to print the Gorman story today?
Nah, couldn’t be….
Imagine the number of senior Democrats and their most lucrative supporters whose communications would be captured by this Department of Justice’s notion of “legitimate” domestic surveillance. Direct? One degree of separation? Two? Three? This investigation/prosecution would legitimate one helluva lot of oppo research.
This may be a legitimate investigation. And if Spitzer has committed some wrong, it should be investigated and appropriate action taken. But in light of Don Siegelman’s experience in nationally obscure Alabama, the investigation’s credibility should not be assumed.
This is the Bush administration. In an election year. An election that could witness the toppling Republican electoral prospects as resoundingly as if they were golden calves in the Sinai. A modicum of skepticism and public questioning would seem appropriate.
Amazing, a man having sex with a woman. A democratic fundamental desecration o’ craptastic
Amazing, a man having sex with children, boy children or male military hotstuds. None of your damn business cuz it’s republican fun and you aren’t invited.
too bad it didn’t happen in nevada where no one cares. their gubner even had charges brought against him cause a gal wouldn’t give in. Didn’t come to anything though. It stayed in vegas
Republican governors think Mr. Spitzer should resign? Just like their Republican president vowed to fire any of his White House staff involved in leaking the name of a covert intelligence operative, unless, of course, it was somebody he knew and who Cheney relied on to get things done. Not that Bush’s behavior should be a precedent for normal behavior.
I assume from Spitzer’s reported behavior that essential elements of the indictment pertaining to him are true. Sad, stupid. If so, I would expect that the only thing on his plate is lining up to transfer power as seamlessly as possible.
This is a pity for all progressives; a potentially great resource for positive reform has been sidetracked, possibly permanently. Let’s hope Spitzer and the Democratic leadership mimics Johnson & Johnson’s former management by making this their Tylenol moment. Show the American public how such painful problems ought to be handled, both for the benefit of those directly involved, and to illustrate how Republicans religiously do it differently.
Hmm, now Josh is linking to a NY Sun story saying that the the public corruption unit from the SDNY has been handling the case:
During a court hearing in the case, at which the four people were arraigned, it emerged that all three of the assistant U.S. attorneys assigned to the prosecution are part of the U.S. attorney’s public corruption unit. One is the bureau’s chief, Boyd Johnson III. The unit investigates wrongdoing by both elected and nonelected officials and bureaucrats at various levels of government. …
Wow. This raises some questions. Did the investigation originate with Spitzer? Or did they just stumble on his phone#/name during the course of the wire tap? If the latter, who were the original investigators? One would think a prostitution ring would be investigated on the local level. Did it get handed over to the feds when they figured out crimes were crossing state lines? Or did it get handed over to the feds as a “public corruption” investigation? And what exactly is corrupt about a politician hiring a hooker? Stupid and immoral, sure. But “corruption” in this context would involve misuse of office/funds, etc. Was Spitzer steering work their way? Dole out a contract? Lotsa variables here…
Eh, I dunno. Depending on how the office is set up and staffed, vice cases could/would fall under the public corruption division. And as interstate and international as this appears to be, there is no reason it could not have started on the Fed level as opposed to state or city. All valid questions, and we should, and must, keep probing in all of those directions, but I don’t see anything of substance yet that makes this more than what it appears to be. Hell of a lot of questions to be looked at seriously though, and it is only two hours into the story…. Keep asking and pondering!
What if — just for a minute — what if it was the money-laundering that got swept up in the Treasury-to-NSA financial transactions driftnet; which then led to the prostitution, which then led to “legal” wiretaps that picked up Spitzer? Isn’t that called fruit of the poisoned tree?
That is certainly not out of the question; especially in light of the fact that the IRS seems to be knee deep into the underlying investigation. I always have questions when the IRS is slated as lead or co-lead on a criminal investigation that is not straight up tax fraud. I hate cross-pollinization of regular criminal cases with IRS; there is a lot of opportunity for mischief (that is one of my beefs with the Clemens persecution, and there will be some pretty ugly facts come out in this regard there before it is all over).
Persecution or prosecution?
Stolen from a caller on the Sean Hannity show:
See, even wingnuts can be funny sometimes!
Fox news, so take it for what it’s worth:
There was talk of indicting him under the Mann Act
17 – Don’t you wonder, though, if they didn’t just pick up lots of spare info over the years, covertly keep lots of it on tapper, and when the “right” interesting names popped, then they put in a, oh, what do those FeeBee boys like to call them, oh yeah, “Clean teams” ?
Basically, I think Spitzer is an idiot, but I don’t buy that the investigation was “clean” either.
[btw – saw the comment on the AT&T thread and I agree]
Huffpo, btw, is running screen grabs from the old site.
http://images.huffingtonpost.c…..iginal.jpg
Oh, I agree, it may well be some dirty poisonous fruit that has been sandpapered and scrubbed to be run by a “clean team”. I am just pointing out that I don’t see any direct evidence of it yet, so it is at least feasible that it is a straight up investigation. Of course, even if that is the case, you sure wonder about the juxtaposition vis avis the DC Madam case, where they have refused to even talk about the important and political johns; that in spite of the fact that the defendant wants them to assist her defense. An interesting dichotomy in the treatment of the johns if you ask me….
Perhaps that’s the real question we need to be asking… How come the DC Madam’s case is being treated differently than this one. If there is reason to believe Spitzer is being unfairly treated, seems to me this would be the place to start.
Yes, and can we get Mark Foley to answer some questions too? Is he out of rehab yet for his “alcoholism?”
Let’s talk about Guckert’s overnights, too.
Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, now Elliot Spitzer. Breaks my heart to see smart talented men think they are too clever to get caught doing something that they must know will derail their political careers. At least Bill’s stupidity was just your garden variety extramarital affair. Prostitution is a whole different ball game. I think Spitzer is done.
As for comparions to Vitter, it is unlikely that he will be reelected. The only reason he remains in Congress is the GOP needs him there for now. As Governor, Spitzer has got no one running cover for him to keep him in place. Idiot.
Sad.
But I’m so pleased for the clarification this provides:
THINGS THAT EVADE LEGAL PENALTIES:
1. Lying about WMD
2. Outing a CIA agent
3. Hanging out with adolescent male House pages
4. Legalizing torture
5. Toe-tapping in the men’s restrooms
6. Inventing no-bid contracts for private mercenaries
7. Selling billions in bogus mortgages
8. Bringing a male prostitute to the WH (repeatedly)
9. Laundering money
10. Illegally wiretapping citizens…
Okay, I’d better stop now; this list could be endless…and I have to get back to work…
THINGS FOR WHICH YOU WILL NEED A LEGAL DEFENSE ATTY:
1. Being a Democrat who pays money for sex
2. Being a Democrat who has sex in the WH (with a member of the opposite sex).
2. Challenging a Republican for the governorship of Alabama.
FauxNewz will be so grateful. They needed something to howl about, and Spitzer’s just handed them his ass on a platter.
If he is “Client #9,” who are clients # 1-8?
Uh, oh…Cafferty says his guess is that other shoes to fall on this…
Given the cost of this particular service, I would be very very surprised if there weren’t.
This may give a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill some pause in the whole FISA stalemate.
Given that everything that comes out of the DOJ is eminently suspect as corrupt, doesn’t this case illustrate what could and has been done to the opposition?
I don’t know about anybody else but the WSJ story on the driftnet, combined with the Quantico Switch from last week, and then this today — how incurious and submissive do you have to be to not wonder?
Yup. You’d have to be brain-dead not to connect a few dots.
OT: Marcy, have you seen this? It’s about Rove’s latest speech in Iowa.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/10/rove-iowa/
Marcy is in transit, but i have seen that and am working on a post about that combined with a couple of other related bits. Have a couple of work things I am also trying to take care of, so it will be a little bit…
OK – I got it.
The driftnet story hits the WSJ (A1, above the fold, 3 columns; inside page next to the LTE, 2/3 of the whole page) this morning.
The Spitzer case hits the wires this afternoon. Case made by … wiretaps and email intercepts.
Message to Wall Street: “We know what you do, with whom, and for how much. You will do as you are told.”
Just e-mailed my partner (who is blind) about the possibility of the US having its first blind governor. Would be pretty cool.
Does the NY Lieutenant Governor get to serve the balance of Spitzer’s term, or is there an election at the first opportunity?
I am not positive, but I believe he serves out the term.
Now this is fascinating. According to TPM, the original wiretap was from January 8 to February 7, when it expired. However, the day before Spitzer was caught up, the wiretap was reissued. Now that is pretty interesting….
Here is a link to the FBI search warrant affidavit that has been discussed.
Well, a renewed wiretap by itself is nothing special, happens all the time – the issue is, was the wiretap itself a “duck-blind” that the investigation was holed up in waiting for a big Democratic duck to get on tape eventually? Very tough to prove, and without evidence that the prostitute was acting as some kind of police agent provacateur, probably very hard to raise into an entrapment defence or otherwise become legally relevant – or maybe they just got lucky. Even if the investigation was spurred into action by the prominence of Spitzer as a customer, and no other real law enforcement priority, he still stumbled into the trap.
Update on the crimes of Larry Craig.
Last week there was a Jury Trial in Hennepin County District Court that involved the same stall in the same men’s room, and the same cop, but a different customer. Upshot, the customer was able to establish sufficient doubt in the minds of the Jury to achieve an acquital. Cop could not prove that his toe tapping came after the toe tapping of the charged, and thus the argument that the cop enticed the response prevailed.
Message to Craig I guess — You should have demanded a Jury Trial in the first place. The Appeals Court has not yet acted on his petition to withdraw his guilty plea, but there has been at least one round of briefs filed. Apparently the Jury Trial noted above involved Defense by the Public Defender’s Office. I don’t know whether the outcome of this trial will impact the manner in which the Hennepin County Attorney addresses these kinds of cases.
Thanks Sara.
Spitzer’s other activities on Feb. 14 in DC:
Feb 14 Prepared Testimony for the House Committee on Financial Services (pdf) (Other documents related to the hearing here)
Feb 14 Elliot Spitzer, Washington Post Op-Ed, Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime
There’s some blogging on these around, too.
Try @52.
The local CBS affiliate is reporting Spitzer is to resign and Paterson sworn in at 7 pm.
Jane reminds us that Spitzer’s campaign theme was to “Bring The Passion Back To Albany“. This part is starting to porm some credible basis for the suspicions we have been discussing about DOJ and snooping irregularities being involved in the mix. From Jane’s article at FDL:
I wonder if the delay from DOJ Main was in order to make sure to roll up a high flying Democrat before rendering an indictment?
This comment was also added as an update to the main post.
Heh heh, the tipos return. “Porm” should read “form”.
I’m interested in the public corruption angle vs the run of the mill vice investigation. As we know, the provision of hookers was a big part of the Duke Cunningham bribery case – are the hookers the McGuffin here, and the larger story one of using them to influence politicians, besides Spitzer?
Yeah, I dunno; but I am rethinking my earlier statement that it might not be significant that it was under the Public Corruption group. I believe it is significant; now the question is is that group involved out of caution or for nefarious reasons?
Spitzer Aides Cited for Use of Police to Tarnish Bruno
This dust up may provide a connection. Spitzer was good at making enemies.
Some things are not forgotten.
42 – I don’t even know that I think there is any taint, it’s just a level of what I believe, institutionally, about the people who are putting the cases together these days that I can’t imagine trusting any one of them about anything.
It’s kind of sad, but I have a hard time believing any USAs office has good people with integrity left in them. Who would fit that bill and still be working, years into it, for torturers?
I want tapes from Watergate and Weston hotel security cameras.
EW:
In New York, most people are going to view this as Spitzer’s problem, and not as general Democratic problem. Outside of the very major exception that he’s the governor, this probably won’t affect NY Democrats very much.
Nationally, I suspect those who associate NY Liberals with the Democratic Party in general, will use this as further confirmation of their biases. Other than that, I think most people will read it as most New Yorkers will, that is to say, as Spitzer’s problem, not the Dems.
It’s not as if Spitzer is another in a long string of recent sex scandals like the Republicans have been experienceing.
.
I’m in NY and an active Dem. My phone has been ringing off the hook (from party people) since this broke. Emails faster tahn I can open them,
NYS Dems do not merely regard this as Spitzer’s problem, they are regarding it (at least today) as a body blow to the party.
Tomorrow when the shock wears off, maybe things will seem brighter
What is the Public Corruption Group exactly? Is it DOJ > Office of Inspector General > Public Integrity Section > Public Corruption Group?
No, it is a unit within the USAO SDNY. It’s my old stomping ground.
While the Bruno affair obviously added to his list, I still think it’s the big bucks that were lining up against him that explains so much of why this reeks —aside from the power vacuum in NYS that could last for years, as someone pointed out.
It seems also that Spitzer was some kind of point man among state regulators who were worried about the “monolines,” or the municipal bond insurers (who are misnamed, because they obviously had other lines that have been getting them into trouble).
The pressure to get those insurers to clean up their balance sheets has had some widereaching reverb the last few months.
Well, the gig may be up. Is looking like it was Spitzer they were after all along. From ABC News via TPM:
.
Okay, game on. This is starting to reek.
What did I tell you! So Spitzer’s “bankers got suspicious” and went to the IRS? Surrrrrre they did. Doesn’t Spitzer come from money? How many private banker type establishments are in the habit of ratting out their very well to do clientele to the feds? Right, none. Unless Spitzer banks with one of the Wall Street houses that he targeted while AG.
If anybody else out there is a Wire fan like me, you can image Maury Levy (crooked yet effective lawyer) running this all around in his mind, and getting rid to say: I can’t wait to get to discovery. I’ll guess a) that Spitzer never gets charged because b) the evidence is tainted.
Also: Why exactly if Spitzer was the original subject of the investigation has he not been charged, but the pimps/owners have been? This all fits EXACTLY into the politicized DOJ playbook.
From TPM:
So, it appears that the transfers didn’t trigger the $10K alarm threshold. As bmaz said in #73, ID the bank, branch, and clerk. If any. And if none don’t stop asking questions.
I’ll do as little imagining of Maury Levy as possible, thank you [shudder]!
Sorry to see that brilliant show end, though on the other hand I’m glad it didn’t overstay.
Per Brian Ross at ABC News:
The feds caught the prostitution ring when they were looking at Spitzer’s financials, and not the other way around:
[my emphasis]
Told you this was a political hit. Spitzer’s too rich to need bribes – it’s an implausible reason to be looking at his financials.
Yeah. He has always been well to do; plenty of money. I would like to get at the bank clerk or official that supposedly “noticed” this and reported it. Sounds weak. However, this is exactly the kind of info that the Bush Administration has recently been confirmed to be hoovering up.
BOYD M. JOHNSON I11
RITA GLAVIN
DANIEL STEIN
Assistant United States Attorneys – SDNY
Let’s track the aboves’ political donations, colleges attended, club memberships, their parents’ donations, who appointed them and when.
I want to know what bank it was, the dollar amount and how many transfers occurred. I wonder of the dollar amount falls into the normal range for FBI involvement.
Folks
First, thanks to bmaz for minding the shop. When will they have planes with wifi??
Just one point, from the NPR coverage I listened to while driving across LA (lovely, as always). They said this story came bc a law enforcement officer revealed this news.
Did Garcia leak this? If they have NOT YET indicted Spitzer, on what grounds? Yes, it would come out eventually, but I didn’t see DOJ releasing Vitter’s name.
The DOJ Manual and EOUSA Resource Manual are pretty clear on this. Only the names of Democratic Super Delegate Johns are supposed to be released. *g*
It’s a rare cold day in Dante’s 7th Circle of Hell in July when any john is prosecuted via the Mann act by ADAs or AUSAs. It’s not very cost effective, or thought to be worth the time involved, but we’re not dealing with a real DOJ anymore. We’re dealing with pimps for people like Rove, Gillespie, and Addington and their Chief Pimp former Judge Mukasey.
I would point out two things, not to defend the DOJ/USA necessarily, just kind of musing. Where the prostitution ring is both interstate and international, having it done by the Feds is not unheard of. But also, keep in mind that this guy is the governor of the state, so the state AG has a conflict (not to mention that Spitzer ran that office for a long time); so that pretty much means that if it is New York people, it has to be local prosecutors or the US Attorney’s Office. Even under a normal circumstance, I can see that call going to the Feds; especially with such a high profile suspect. Tack onto that the fact that the only crime that was initially in play was Federal, if we are to believe the ABC report, and I can see why this is in the Fed’s hands.
Ah, now ABC news is saying he’s likely to be charged with “structuring” – repeated transactions just under $10,000. That’s more legit, depending on how many transactions are at issue. Still. Guess we’ll find out soon.
lol… can i just get a “Hells Yeah” for that headline?
I mean, i thought the headline was funny, not the event itself.
Talk about handing Fox News their talking point for the next six months…
‘Sokay, randiego, it is funny. I just bet I’m not the only one who didn’t notice at first.
Okay folks, here may be my first useful nugget. I think the odds are close to 100% that Spitzer already has been indicted and it remains sealed temporarily to give him a chance to clean up his affairs and get the Lt. Governor sworn in. But the deed is done, you just don’t know it yet. Spritzer has probably known since at least Friday….
The ABC article says:
“Structuring” isn’t obscure. It is part of the lingo associated with Currency Transaction Reports. A CTR is required for transactions greater than $10,000 in currency. Structuring occurs when people try to avoid that requirement by doing 2 or more transactions close together, all below 10K, but greater in the aggregate. Most banks have computers looking at their business so they can comply with CTR obligations and a bunch of other stuff under the Bank Secrecy Act, the Patriot Act and other related laws. The system is usually set up to look at cash transactions daily and over a trailing two or three day period over even longer periods, looking for structured transactions.
With that in mind, just exactly why would a bank report on these transactions? Is there something happening in Spitzer’s cash transactions? Was he paying the hookers in cash, drawing out more than $10,000 in cash over some short period? And how could this happen with bribes? If he were receiving bribes, he would be depositing cash, not withdrawing it. There isn’t any reason to think this is possible, and if it did happen, it is absurd to think that he was depositing cash in small amounts to try to avoid having to file for receipt of larger bribes.
It is equally stupid to think he was drawing cash to pay a bribe. That makes no sense at all. It is a lot easier to see why he might be receiving bribes.
Bmaz is right, this is reeking weak.
Good points masaccio!
And the one that I’d like answered is:
Why was anybody at all watching the Democratic Govenor Spitzer?
What happened to the DC madame and Larry Flint’s forthcoming revelations regarding a number of Republican clients? Why do dems always have to step down? Vitter and Craig still have their jobs.
Client-4 asked if there was any “traceability,” and added that he could “get it ‘past my accountant and auditor as a business expense but you sometimes hear of these agencies getting busted, you know, that’s my really only concern, that’s why I don’t call more often.” LEWIS
responded: ‘I would say no . . . the tax ID for the business is
QAT Consulting.” Client-4 asked if that was a real company, and
LEWIS replied: ‘It is . . . it exists . . . there are real
offices in New York City.” Client-4 stated: “That’ s how they
usually come after you . . . fake company.” LEWIS replied:
“Exactly, just as long as you pay your taxes, you’re fine.”
Keep up the digging. I’m sure the politicization of the DoJ is the most important angle to this story.
However, I’m stuck on the fact that Spitzer would stray so close to Valentine’s Day. It looks like symbolism was on his mind, too, if he was out of that hotel room before 12:02am Feb 14.
Religion and its followers, whether they be hypocrites or otherwise, have imposed a brand of false morality on society that society is incapable of and is unwilling to adhere to. This is a matter of someone getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar. All the hypocrites will point their fingers at Spitzer even as they themselves are guilty of the same acts or worse – even by their own standards. The difference is that these hypocrites have not yet been caught. There is no good reason why an adult woman (or a man) cannot rent her body to another adult person as he or she sees fit.
Headline from the Huffington Post Department of Unfortunately Unintentional Humor:
And with Faux News, the Truth never matters:
Sorry for quoting the entire report, but it was so typical of the
RepugsFaux News, I couldn’t help myself.If QAT Consulting’s bank had turned them over to the IRS, that is one thing. But the story is that Spitzer’s bank turned him over, and that does not make sense.
Is it a coinkidink, or did this story break at the same time the Congressional Report on the Bush Admin’s Politicization of Pre-Iraqi War Intelligence was released.
“Hey sexy and expensive prostitutes!! Get ‘em while they are hot!!”
This leave Tom Jelton on NPR saying “…there is nothing really new in the report that isn’t already out there…”
Good! Back to the centerfold!!!
Anyone else noticed how that blockbuster WSJ article “NSA’s Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data” got disappeared due to the Spitzer story?
A story that ordinarily would be The Headliner for all MSM organizations instead ends up as birdcage liner.
Just askin’.
The IRS angle is the one that leads me to think that this may not pass the smell test, although if Spitzer did ’structure” cash transactions, with the intent to avoid the reporting laws, it doesn’t matter if he used the money to hand out to the homeless anonymously in terms of his legal exposure – the intent to conceal the cash nature of the transactions is the offence. However, the IRS has been the source of government dirty tricks since Nixon, so I would not at all be surprised if they were zealous in their pursuit of this matter.
Campbell Brown (Mrs. Dan Senor, of Carlyle Group, Republican politics) has handed over a large part of her CNN show tonight to Jonah FUCKING Goldberg, the author of Liberal Fascism (she even gave his book a plug!) to opine on Spitzer. Hoooboy.
Hookers and politicians–who woulda ever thunk about that juxtaposition? Brought to you courtesy of a DOJ who has been pipmping its US attorneys to steal elections and its FBI to steal all your data and help the White House to lose all its email. And is nothing sacred? The Obsessive Compulsive straight arrow governor was trying to exhibit a little hot spontaneous affection on Valentine’s Day eve–if you can’t get some lovin’ then–when can you?
So now let’s hear anyone dare to claim now that our intrepid illegal wiretapping is not catching terrrrrrisssssts who cross state lines with prostitutes aka 18 U.S.C. § 2421 et seq. Of course we need more and better illegal wiretapping and more and better immunity for the defenseless telcoms and comcoms so we can catch more and hotter hookers with more and better po9liticians.
Client #9 is also a soon to be replaced Hillary Super Delegate (he in the Emporor’s Club VIP and she from the the Empress’s Club VIP who not only negotiated peace in Ireland and practiced foreign policy with high level diplomats Sinbad and Sheryl Crow but is also responsible for green beer on St. Patrick’s day) who has not been caught in bed yet with a live boy or a dead girl. And we know that Clinton Super Delegate attorneys use their 3AM phone calls wisely–as CLE to gain undercover experience when they bust the next massage parlor in Long Island or Staten Island, or else they are looking for innovative ways to show their candidate how to really cross the “Commander in Chief threshold.”
Besides now there is a new charismatic plank the Hillary boosters can offer for the convention.
“We bring New York expertise and skill sets into those tired old Washington hotels like the Mayflower on the train.” And Spitzer was being environmentally friendly–this was a green transaction. He didn’t fly his date Christen in on the governor’s gashog chopper or have her driven in a big ass SUV. She used train #129 from Penn Station to Union Street and Amtrack back to NYC. There is also evidence that Client-9 tipped handsomely on the fly showing further evidence that the Clinton super D had what it takes to solve a problem at the midnight hour of a crisis.
They can also boast that when it’s crunch time, that their super delegates are best at solving crucial problems.
This may be far from the worst thing Spitzer has done if, in fact he is guilty of anything in Prison Nation which is a much better name than the homeland, plaguerized from an 1890 Ibsen play.
After all how do we even know that Client #9 using room #871 is the Governor of New York? It could be some other terrrrrisssst named Eliot Spitzer. The governor of New York, and all Harvard Law Grads. know enough to assume a name Zeliot Nitzer, or something similarly clever.
And once again DOJ has their priorities well orchestrated–screw Judge Mukasey’s unprecedented illegal obstruction,missing emails contempt of Congress, rape by State Department Officials and murder by contracters like Blackwater, and riding the US Attorney’s office like a rodeo bronco to win elections using twits like Goodling, Alice Martin, and Leura Canary, Main Justice’s tools along with twits like Sampson and Goodling (the latter having never litigated a parking ticket).
Great Report Pierce! You nailed it. Eliot got Hoovered and they worked backward from the hoovering to his liason with the high-dollar call girl.
Um, Pete? I think trying to tie Hillary into this mess is a stretch.
Yep. There’s actually an impressive number of such today that now can be treated as nonevents. The NSA story, the House filing of the contempt lawsuit, Hastert’s seat being lost by the GOP, I think there’s a Blackwater tax scam story trying to break today, you name it.
Gosh, we just happened to discover these unusual transfers in his bank account. We sure weren’t looking for them, no one told us to do that.
if Spitzer is indicted, and vitter isn’t, what more evidence do you need ???
the DOJ is acting in BAD FAITH and prosecuting people for POLITICAL PURPOSES
Just for fun I googled QAT.
http://www.qat.com/
Ken Bass – President http://www.bassandco.com/kcbsum.html Ken Bass?
Rollie Stephens – Vice President
Rich Barndt – Chief Technology Officer
Chuck Snyder – Director of Business Development
Brent Hodgen – Human Resources Manager
Spitzer is a disgrace. It doesn’t matter if every crooked repub from Gonzo on down was trying to nail him. He nailed himself: stupid, aggressive, pious, moralizing a@$$*&le.
And this is the progressive NY movement we’re talking about here, the soul-mate of my home state’s other three horsepeople of Probity: Schumer, Rangell, and HR Clinton.
Well, it does matter very much how this came to be. There is a right way and a wrong way for justice to be administered in the United States. You investigate crimes, not people; and that is a distinction that has been violated repeatedly by this Administration. So, if that occurred, we need to know how and why.
Well, I get the part about stupid, aggressive, pious, and moralizing, or at least I’ll take your word for it. If Spitzer has prosecuted and sounded off on these very kinds of crimes before, then that is a problem. I also get that there is a law on the books about doing this stuff across state lines.
But isn’t it worth arguing the situation on principle anyway? There are serious morals crimes — genuine human trafficking, which includes North American organized crime but is even bigger and worse than that, and then the harassment and exploitation that we have fought for a generation in schools/universities and workplaces.
But, um, after that? Not all prostitution is human trafficking as I understand it. Maybe I am failing to grasp the money problem? Some guy with a healthy bank account uses it to pay for sex? Why is that illegal?
Maybe this is a blow to his family, or maybe not. I’m never going to know, and I don’t see the relevance. Lots of people make their separate peace with these things, for their own reasons.
I read Pete Pierce’s lists up above, and that’s the anger I can identify with. Why is this happening, given, y’know, everything else that is so much worse?
To add a Canadian context to this, I see that there was little interest in wiretapping Brian Mulroney for accepting $100000 in cash from a German arms dealer, in $1000 bills, in a New York hotel room, and not declaring it at the border – and no deposit record at a New York bank. I wonder why that is so?
Always blame the Canadians, eh ?!! *g*
Mulroney was Raygun’s BFF and by extension, Bush41’s BFF …
I think the rankings of Canadian Prime Ministers are said to be “from great to Mulroney”.
Soon to be updated to “From great to Harper”.
Yeah, I dunno that must be ok, but the Administration did roll up some guy taking that kind of cash from Venezuela to Argentina, so that is definitely bad (even though, you know, it happened in Argentina).
Although it’s hazy and I haven’t thought about this case for a while, I remember the money abroad prosecution in the Eight Amendment case in United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 118 S.Ct. 2028, 2036, 141 L.Ed.2d 314 (1998).
Simple. No sex. Everyone knows: Canadians don’t have sex.
LOL! So true! *g*
No need to rub it in!
I wouldn’t touch that with…*g*
Warm thought to toddle off to bed with, though, as I was about to, until I read Mary’s latest link.
Hmmn. Money. Not Spitzer’s, but … money. Hmmn.
How do you think we keep our Igloos warm ? *g*
Kurt Opsahl has posted Law-Checking WSJ Article on Domestic Spying at EFF’s Deeplinks.
Excellent catch!
Jiminey Christmas. So targeting the Dem Gov of NY until you find something is the highest and best use for our DOJ? No wonder there’s never anyone around to fill out a FISA warrant application.
Spitzer was an idiot and deserves what he gets from the revelations, but geez, this is why we need NSA eavesdropping and torture? So the staff of a USA’s office can do a Gov’s Gone Wild video?
Whatever.
I guess since Flynt left Spitzer off the hook, we can be proud that the NY USAs office is happy to fill in for Hustler. Spitzer meet the AUSAs. Sleaze meet Slime.
And when do we find out who the other Clients are? Or will there be painfully protracted dribbled disclosures of first one, then another.
And please oh please, tell me Spitzer wasn’t doing anything that involved him wearing a diaper.
blergh.
Well chief, would you believe two wet suits and a condom…… (Spoken in my best Maxwell Smart voice).
Max … they were scuba diving ?!!
… channeling Agent 23 … *g*
… sorry, back to lurking …
Bullseye as per ususl
Assuming the IRS head fake works, look at the waste of scarce government resources after they knew there were no bribes.
From Revelations Began in Routine Tax Inquiry
All these taxpayer resources are to catch one high-profile john. My guess is they were incredibly disappointed the sex was with an adult woman and didn’t involve anything kinky. My guess is they have video tape of Spitzer and Kristin in the room.
Maybe this ambush will unify Democrats around the Constitution in a way their oaths of office failed to do. This is what all that bipartisanship bought them.
Structuring…man–I bet that doesn’t get you any street cred in the joint. He’ll probably tell everyone he killed a man!
I’m not condoning breaking a law, and of course this is the first time I’ve ever heard of prostitution, or call girls (but looked them up with “the google” using define:_________ in the google)but there was a day of comity among politicians when the value of showcasing Spitzer as a john in this prosecution would have been minimal. They certainly had other wiretaps, and easily had enough evidence international bank transfers, other paper work or money trails (remember your bank records are stored in Zurich and they are now turning over your banking records to FBI to get slam dunk pleas in this prosecution).
Garcia could have weighed the pain to his wife, Harvard Law grad Silda Wall Spitzer, and his three daughters and his family and friends with the necessity to craft the indictment to make the news that broke today.
There is no doubt that when Garcia’s AUSAs and the FBI’s field agents realized who they had as one of the clients/johns that they phoned up the line and there was gleeful approval from people like Ivan Fong, Greg Katsas, and Craig Morford who informed Ed Gillespie and Fielding and the decision was full steam ahead to showcase and damage a democratic governor of New York.
Had Client-9 been someone who was not a politician, or a Republican politician, I seriously doubt the indictment would have been choriographed for maximum publicity with the wiretapping transcripts of Spitzer front and center.
I haven’t read the indictment, and probably wouldn’t but there were plenty of employees of Emperor’s club and plenty of customers in international cities who were tapped who could have been showcased in the indictment–who probably weren’t. I’m sure someone here has, but this was targeted to bring Spitzer down as a byproduct of shutting down an international escort service. This is probably one of scores of international services like this one operating in NYC.
Given the political capital to be gained although this is not going to produce a Republican governor of New York, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went forward with a federal prosecution of Spitzer.
He’s out of the governor’s office soon–that’s my prediction, and it’s very sad for him and his family, but this is not going to put a Republican governor in Albany.
Stinks. Reeks.
While I’m amazed and disappointed that Spitzer would not have covered his ass better than this by refraining from anything the ‘Pugs could use against him like this, there’s just too many questions about this mess.
– “Structuring”?? Gimme a break. Why aren’t the feds murmuring about “structuring” in re: NRCC’s misapplied funds and Chris Ward? Is this inoculation? “Client-9″ also had a whopping $1K on his account, had to come up with another $3.3 in cash to close the deal in DC. You’re telling me a bank turned him in for $3.3K transaction? or for other similar cash transactions between $1K and $5K for prostitutes, but they didn’t squeal on Chris Ward?
– Mann Act: I don’t see anything in the highly detailed description of the transaction by “Client-9″ to indicate that the client requested a specific girl, let alone one from out of state. Why’d they “ship” this girl anywho, all the girls in DC already tied up working over the ‘Pugs? Or was this a convenient set-up to make noise about Mann Act charges?
– Why was Garcia having to wait for an authorization on this case? Until they got the right fish set up?
– Why isn’t anybody whining about the leak of “Client-9″ info, especially if as NYSun reports, “If all prosecutors find is that a public official hired a prostitute, “they’re going to take a pass, and they’re not going to try to expose him,” said one former federal prosecutor in New York who spoke on condition of anonymity.” This suggests to me that the shoe was on the other foot, that they were going to expose Spitzer when he showed up in a case they were investigating for other reasons.
– The level of detail in the complaint about “Client-9″ transaction as compared to the other clients is bizarrely singular.
Agh. What a mess. Why is it so damned difficult to keep one’s penis to themselves? It’s like I tell my kids: people who can’t keep their hands to themselves and mind their own business are going to get in trouble.
Probably. The agencies, the House and the Senate probably saturated the binding sites of the DC ladies.
Hey was Larry Flint tipping DOJ to initate the wiretaps and investigation in this case? Politics, I’ve heard can make some pretty strange shacking up.
Besides being SOP when a ranking gov official is involved, I think DOJ wanted to share the orgasm over Spitzer among the DAG and AAG. Judge Material Witness Mukasey aka Sylvio Dante of the DOJ also probably got his jollies.
My question is what happens to the names of CIA, other thugs in agencies or places like State or DOJ who are on the client list. Does this DOJ prosecute their own? Almost never and you bet your ass not if they are clients here. It would detract from the main character in this political morality play, and that main character is Spitzer.
Of course no doubt the money from Emperor’s Club is being shunted to build dirty bombs for Islamo-Fascists to use on the “homeland.” I’d like to give credit where credit is due to Henrich Ibsen for that term from Hedda Gabler (1890).
Two thoughts:
1. Spitzer is a sleazebag.
2. The “we were just following the money” story doesn’t make sense. If they thought he was taking bribes and got a wiretap on him, he would have been listed as the “target”. “Client #9″ means that they got 8 other people on tape before him. They had to have been tapping the prostitutes.
I think that’s the thread. There’s no way he’s Client 9 and their story makes sense.
DOJ is pushing the story that they were doing a routine tax probe on Spitzer, Marcy:
Revelations Began in Routine Tax Inquiry NYT 3/11/08
Right. But then he’s not client 9, he’s routine tax probe turned target 1.
I probably haven’t expressed myself well on this thread, but after a satirical moment looking at the surface story, the more I look at the pieces of this, this falls in line with a trend of very political prosecutions which probably is where you were heading at the outset.
If you watched the coverage on NBC’s Today Show this morning, you would come away thinking that this absolutely was a political assassination.
They read nearly the entire section of the complaint pertinent to “Client-9″ on air, even the more prurient bits.
They never pointed out that nowhere in that segment does Spitzer appear to ask for a specific prostitute from NYC, nowhere does he ask that one be sent to DC, or whether payment is handled by cash or credit transaction. And while “Client-9″ asks about the prostitute’s appearance, it could have been not to refresh his memory but to ensure he didn’t get somebody that wasn’t with the Emperor’s Club.
They did mention that Spitzer’s identity had been leaked, but only after 5 minutes of sticking in the shiv many, many times.
I don’t doubt that the source for this was originally an illegal wiretap–an idea many have floated, and Perris posted a little while ago @ 195, and others.
We all remember this story but it has receded into the background, and I think it is of supreme importance–broken first by NYT
Bank Data Is Sifted by U.S. in Secret to Block Terror:
Treasury chief defends global bank data tracking
I think Glenn Greenwald’s take as always is helpful.
Targeting Bad Democrats
Targeting bad Democrats
I think the only people who believes an illegal wiretap wasn’t the source for this and many DOJ political prosecutions are Elizabeth Airhead Postergirl Hasselbach on The View, and in this case the rest of the ladies on The View who have him making a prostitute cross state lines with of course no substantive evidence because evidence is inconvenient and it gets in the way.
This means that illegal wiretapping has been excepted by the morons who comprise the bellshape curve of the American public.
Mention of serial affairs in Barbara Walters and Whoopie Goldbergs’ past–Not.
And of course the important takeaway for today is that Barbara Walters has met Silda at a luncheon. I’m informed now.
Links to Glen should have read
Targeting Bad Democrats
Who Cares If Eliot Spitzer Hires Prostitutes
If David Paterson is Governor of New York (not automatic–Bill Clinton stayed President with tons of scandals)he will be the fourth African American and legally blind as MSNBC First Read reports.
It’s distressing to see that superficial MSM sees the root of the Spitzer story as an IRS investigation rather than illegal bank data mining as the NYT reported in June 2006.
The only good political news today is that Al Franken now will be the Democratic More and Better Candidate for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota a state polluted by Rachel Paulose the scumbag now residing at Main Justice making over a hundred grand for being a a scumbag.
The other piece of good news is that Hillary Clinton’s totally false experience claim is now getting vetted center stage as she looses by more than 20% in Missisippi and the masses learn that any term about “victory in a state” is completely false–it’s about the delegates. Obama won the delegate count in Texas; not Clinton and most of hte big states she claims were quite close as to delegate votes. Clinton continues to gaze heavenword and lie about purported experience.
I wonder Frank, why it is that only Spitzer’s conversations were reproduced in the NY Daily News yesterday afternoon and not any of the other clients tapped.
I wonder also why it took two years for this indictment to be unsealed as Garcia, the DAG, the AAG, and numerous people in the West Wing and DOJ played with it and themselves instead of holding onto their emails?
Hey, Petrocelli! Stop with the lurking.
I only lurk at Emptywheel’s place … the level of dialogue here is intimidating …
I know what you mean, but they’re really nice smart people!
I see elsewhere that Jane Hamsher and I must have been on the same wavelength, almost item-for-item. I didn’t throw in the Bloomberg or Roger Stone weirdness — and both are like the sealing wax on this mess.
I knew there was more to this when he appeared with Silda and did not resign … interesting coupla days ahead …
Speaking of Roger Stone, and wife, (shall we call the Rolling Roger Stones?), you just had to close with the thought of sealing wax, now didn’t you?? Good one….
And all these years I’ve visualized it as ceiling wax.
I think the punch line is “beige.”
… and I might add, a “must read” for me whenever possible …
If they were investigating for bribery because of unusual financial transactions, then wouldn’t the money have been going INTO the account rather than OUT OF it?
Therefore, they weren’t investigating for bribery?
I’ll return to the structuring thing: the ABC story I quoted above says
That isn’t true. The only thing involved in structuring is the use of several transactions designed to disguise a transaction that would require a Currency Transaction Report. The only transactions that require such reports are cash transactions in excess of $10,000. Now, if I draw out $10,000 in cash, the bank requires me to file a report. The stories don’t say he used cash, in fact, the stories seem to say that he was writing checks to QAT. It doesn’t matter how many checks you write, or how, to anyone. CTRs only get filed when cash is involved. So, what the heck did Spitzer’s bank see that led them to file some kind of report?
All reports are filed with FinCEN, a regulatory group formed to deal with money laundering and catching terrorist financing transactions. I know for a fact that this doesn’t happen with all transactions which would require a CTR. Irregular transactions of this form don’t get caught by the standard programs. When they are caught, they are examined by a group in the bank, and under the circumstances, it seems highly unlikely that anyone would have thought this was a problem, and that assumes that there was a cash transaction at all.
I say again, the part about his bank reporting this, and that the Feds weren’t looking at the prostitution ring, seems false.
We had a few exchanges in a thread related to the NRCC’s faked audit scandal; think somebody in thread said they reported cash transactions of $3K and up at a credit union where they worked. There’s some variability about the amount that trips a report, although the feds definitely want to hear about transactions that are 10K and up.
But when a prostitute charges $1K to $5K, and there’s tips involved, too, it’s not necessarily tripping the $10K threshold. There’s definitely something else going on here.
I better tell my spouse to buy me any nice presents on credit rather than cash — although I resent like hell that the feds might find out about my next piece of jewelry before I do, whether they’re combing the credit card data or looking at a cash transaction under 5K.
As I noted, the computer program trips if there are cash transactions which get over 10K. The story suggests that he was writing checks to QAT. This is simply not a reportable transaction. Assuming that he was using cash, and assuming that his withdrawal tripped the program, there is absolutely no reason to think the bank group charged with filing the reports would think this required reports. Wealthy people are fully aware of the rules about cash, and prosecutors all know about the structuring rule. I know a lawyer who got tripped up depositing over 10K in two transactions from a client. Ugly. We all know this rule. It would not be at all unusual for Spitzer to pull out several thousand dollars at a time.
I think that might actually have been masaccio that was relating the internal bank monitoring thresholds. Just tell husband that he has to keep up appearances for the Fed watchers, so he has to only buy you jewelry of over $10,000.
Tortoise @131 – No current line on that one for me. There is fire here for Spitzer, he’s toast; but I want to know why and who lit it. Spitzer may well not end up with a criminal conviction when this is over, but the only way he “comes out on top” on this is if he is left with enough after the separation to afford to give the hooker a call again.
Isn’t Larry Flint still actively taking non-partisan pot shots at politicians by offering rewards to working women?
I think Selma and Eliot stay together, but predicting that may be harder than predicting Super Delegates, pledged delegates and the fine states of Ohio and Michigan whose democrats were delighted to go along with the leapfrogging ahead in January.
I’m not sure what Governor Corzine’s last bid to buy Michigan and Florida was (through Sotheby’s or Christie’s I guess).
Well, not completely. CTRs are part of it, but there is also an obligation on banks and financial institutions, even post offices (money orders) and lawyers trust accounts, not to participate in money laundering, and that is an obligation totally separate and distinct from the cash reports. Again, this is more of a judgment call on the part of the financial institution, so there could have been some overzealous monitoring of Spitzer’s finances, especially when he had Bruno and the rest of the Republican dirty tricks squad like Roger Stone on his case (and the elder Spitzer too). But as you say, the purpose of the payments is irrelevant if the charge is structuring, he could have been using it to give to poor orphans for scholarships and it would still be a problem. Seems to me that someone as savvy and wealthy as Spitzer would have a safe deposit box full of cash that didn’t show deposits or withdrawals. But then again, he was reckless to think that he could consort with hookers in the level of scrutiny he would attract.
I have read the indictment, and I was wrong about the use of checks. Someone else apparently used checks. It appears that Spitzer had a $400 credit with the agency. He sent a package with $2600. He seems to have withdrawn another $1500, probably from an ATM. This is structuring? I don’t think so. There is no intent to hide the amount of cash or subvert the 10K reporting requirement. Why would he be required to file a CTR?
It’s just too screwy isn’t it? I’m not convinced he’s really that stupid. And he didn’t look especially contrite at his press conference.
Did he even have sex with the girl? The conversation transcript didn’t say one way or the other. The hooker didn’t even get the line right. I believe it’s usually considered important to connect the fee to the service.
Anyone want a little wager that Spitzer comes out on top when all is done? (From the looks of the comments and the prevailing wisdom, I expect to get some good odds.)
Bmaz, you are a sporting kind of guy. What’s the book?
I have a hard time believing that any New York bank is going to raise a red flag over a few transactions that were less that $5K.
OT via mcjoan over at DKos links to this “cute” interview of Chertoff wrt to:
So, the Heimat Security experts are simply one big Venetian Lion’s Head, where they don’t distinguish the provenance of the information they receive? Or they only act on the information they WANT to believe is true? Which is worse!!!!!
Think yellocake! These clowns started a war with fake info for doG’s sake!
Creating their own “reality” is a “quaint” way of putting it.
114 – I wish I had an Agent 99 voice, but no such luck.
Is there any truth to the leak that Spitzer is going to claim entrapment, since the Feds doctored his water with sex hormones?
BTW – CQ’s Jeff Stein has a piece up about his bizarro interview with Chertoff.
Apparently DHS just gets all kinds of data from everywhere, sometimes with no analysis, never with any bona fides as to whether it was legally or illegally obtained, or torture based, or planted by Cheney’s office – – – they then pass along to law enforcement across the country, kind of like Halliburton providing water to the troops in Iraq.
These guys are unbelievable (and while we’re waiting on Spitzer’s charges, when is anyone going to investigate Chertoff giving advice to Chiquita to materially assist terrorists in Latin America?)
Lest we forget, Bushco sent billions by the pallet load of hundred dollar bills to Iraq on cargo planes. Millions got lost. That’s ok, though.
144 – Mad, GMTA.
Yours, yes. Mine, nahhhh. *g*
And anyway, why would the bank think these two transactions required a report. Spitzer is on the road making the second withdrawal apparently, and grabbing that kind of cash when you are traveling is not uncommon for rich people. There are all kinds of reasons for doing that, which is why I can’t believe the bank would think it should be reported.
And how does a “withdrawal” trigger the reporting? I thought it was on the “deposit” side that banks got suspicious.
153 – not to worry. The Intrepid Senators Levin and Warner are all over that. Not finding the Iraqi’s money we lost, but ordering up a report into how much money the Iraqis are making on oil, so we can divy up how much of we we get for
destroyingliberating them. Isn’t it nice to see bipartisan efforts tostealrestructure output for the Iraqi oil money?Via War and Piece:
.
http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/007138.html
is EW around? Beautiful night out, eh?
159 – Ok ok – you’ve got dibs on greatER.
Horton has his first swipe at the Spitzer stuff up
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002589
He always has such a unique take.
I wonder if Scott knows if his former NYC lawfirm partner, former New York Federal judge and now Attorney General of the US, the “honorable” Mukasey had previous run-ins with Spitzer when Spitzer was NY AG?
I believe I’ve heard that they are not friends, or much collegial even.
Per bonkers at FDL, this is from the NY Post:
Link. Bonkers points out that this doesn’t look much like “the bank turned him in”. Instead, it looks like the opening moves would have had to have happened a couple of years ago. That makes my analysis about the claims in the indictment irrelevant on the question of what made the bank report to FinCEN. I wonder what, if anything, happened a couple of years ago that made Spitzer’s bank report something.
From the NYT:
Hmmm…tinfoil hat time here, but if Hillary were to be the Democratic nominee, AND win in November, AND the
Repugs“powers-that-be” also pushed Paterson off the Governor cliff, that would mean a Repug Governor would be in position to appoint Hillary’s Senatorial replacement.Shades of Karl Rove, could it be? Tucking my tinfoil hat on more securely…*g*
Shades of Karl Rove, could it be? Tucking my tinfoil hat on more securely…*g*
Keep it handy.
More from the NYT:
Seems that this was not Spitzer’s first time on the merry-go-round.
And maybe he was learning from experience and got a good report card from Kristen.
There’s more from almost every website on the web–if you just close your eyes and put http://www.somepin.somepin you’re likely to come up with a Spitzer story. Sex seems to sell.
From NY Daily News “Client 9 Will Pay for Everything”
Not too many people, including MSM, is going to link this with a pattern of going after Democratic officials. Whether this was a routine takedown of an escort service, the fact that Garcia and the rungs above him vascillated for so long smacks of just another targeted federal prosecution of a lucrative escort service.
Contrary to the watered down Nightline that has been a pale shell of itself since Koppel left, and Brian Ross ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent, this is not “all about sex”–it’s all about politics as many comments have indicated.
The fact that Garcia vascillated for nearly two years with the rungs above him vascilating smacks of more than just another prosecution targeting a lucrative escort service. This was tailored to take down a Democratic governor.
Had someone like Vitter or a Republican been Client-9, you’d very likely never have heard of it.
Remember that Larry Flint outted a few high level state department types, and zilch happened to them legally. Remember State Department official Randall Tobias–the guy who touted abstinence as the educational tool to avoid HIV?
Medically, this is like treating a lymphoma by yelling to the patient “Out Out Damn tumor.”
The lack of integrity in the PIS of DOJ is pretty well known. Horton’s piece is as always so well written. The question I have is now that they have destroyed Spitzer, who is next? The have been trolling for candidates to destroy for almost 8 years.
And also, as someone mentioned previously, is this really just a warning to others to shut up? Like destroying Valerie Wilson’s career was a message to do what we want or else.
More OT from Froomkin:
And Junya wasn’t jokin’!
A little humor close out my night:
Subject: 1977 – 2007 – If you relate to this…
1977: Long hair
2007: Longing for hair
1977: KEG
2007: EKG
1977: Acid rock
2007: Acid reflux
1977: Moving to California because it’s cool
2007: Moving to Arizona because it’s warm
1977: Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
2007: Trying NOT to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
1977: Seeds and stems
2007: Roughage
1977: Hoping for a BMW
2007: Hoping for a BM
1977: Going to a new, hip joint
2007: Receiving a new hip joint
1977: Rolling Stones
2007: Kidney Stones
1977: Screw the system
2007: Upgrade the system
1977: Disco
2007: Costco
1977: Parents begging you to get your hair cut
2007: Children begging you to get their heads shaved
1977: Passing the drivers’ test
2007: Passing the vision test
1977: Whatever
2007: Depends
Ah, yes, plus ça change, plus … um, wait a minute … er … gee, that’s kind of twist-y, isn’t it?
People just keep piping up with all this stuff about surveillance; and about the collection, processing, storage, and sharing of personal data; and about the monitoring of all kinds of activities. What’s an agency to do to combat such ingratitude? Maybe the concerned/paranoid public will chill out if they’re informed of the ultimate benefit, exoneration. Just like results of DNA swabs that have been prominently used in the UK (and are being tried elsewhere), all this personal information could one day prove that a good guy—maybe you—is not a bad guy!
I haven’t heard the above argument in the USA, but I’m kind of expecting it.
We hear it all the time in the USA–it’s advanced by the people doing the power grab mining all the information. Are you familiar with the $1-2 billion biometric data mine the FBI is setting up that has a 20% accuracy?
We used to have this thing that has been long since destroyed called the Constitution and a US Code with Congressional Advisory notes however parsed by appellate law clerks that operated on a presumption of innocence. We used to have a burden of probable cause to meet in this country before any of this information was data mined.
Most of us want the feds to keep their lying asses out of our fucking lives. DOJ has a shitpile that will be permeating its building for a couple generations before it has a chance to clean up. They need to focus on their own information and start cleaning house instead of trying to chelate our information.
The American version is ‘You can read my data, I’ve done nothing wrong, I have nothing to hide.’
Which is all ill advised at best. I was a witness in a CoIntelPro case. My case involved the CIA paying for domestic information (illegal at the time). The CIA would only pay for ‘useful’ info. The informants had every impetus and opportunity to gussie up info to fit the CIA’s ‘needs’.
I later became a computer programmer. I learned to make computers lie (by manipulating stats). I was young, stupid, and naive. Computers can be made to lie as easily as CIA agents can be made to lie. There will be a day when the planting of false DNA will become easier, and all the swabbing will be reviled as the invasion of privacy that it is.
Further, when people realize how easy it is to wrongfully use the fruit of illegal searches, there should be a major backlash. People think identity theft is bad but not too frequent, and easy to protect against. What will happen when whole cities are the victims of identity theft, and that the government is the thief? The excuses of ‘we are looking for terrorists, pornographers, and drug dealers’ will not wash. People will wonder (if they don’t already) about insider trading and blackmail. The Chinese have hackers that have gotten into the Pentagon, so this is not too far fetched an idea. There is a reason that the framers of the Constitution insisted on privacy.
Ok, let’s look again. The investigation opened with “payments to QAT”, which were reported by a bank, presumably to FinCEN.
The NYT says that some bank reported the transactions. Wire transfers aren’t reportable unless they are “suspicious”. Why would a transfer by Spitzer to QAT be suspicious? The Times says
This could not have happened with cash, because no one could know where the cash was spent. Instead, it looks like Spitzer must have wired some money to QAT. But that, in itself, doesn’t look suspicious. It would only be suspicious if you knew that QAT was a problem, and someone was looking at QAT.
I’m thinking the Feds need to get their story straight. They must have been looking at QAT for some other reason, and found Spitzer’s wires. They didn’t get it because someone turned in Spitzer’s transactions.
Isn’t a big money-center bank (and Amex, running an ad featuring Tina Fay) running commercials that have a James Bond/Walter Mitty fantasizing about a Goldfinger-like caper that, when interrupted by his “practical wife”, is about nothing more than hubby receiving a call from his bank that “suspicious transactions” have been noted and stopped. Via the bank calling the customer, asking about them, and being told to stop them.
So the “suspicious transactions” meme seems suspicious. There’s no mention that the bank tried to contact its customer, and no one seems to know about the banking regulation that requires the bank to inform the IRS. This bank presumably had a longstanding relationship with Mr. Spitzer, who happens to be independently wealthy and the Governor of the State of New York. His wealth and frequent travel suggests that large, numerous transactions – frequently T&E related and in many locations – would be routine in any year.
So, pray tell, what was “suspicious” about these transactions and what required the bank to inform the IRS, as opposed to say, a USA or a state prosecutor? And, pray tell, what led to launching a criminal investigation against the governor? Was it the amount? The recipient? The frequency? One would hope that the recipient was already being investigated or on a watch list, hence, the governor may have found himself caught up in an ongoing investigation.
What little we have suggests that it was the governor who was on the watch list, and that the trolling of only Karl Rove knows how much data finally yielded something other than the names of the New York Democrats’ biggest donors.
I just made this post over at the lake and it belongs here also
marcy, I haven’t been to your place for a couple of days and I am wondering if this is brought up;
how many people think spitzers escapades were first discovered in an illegal tap and then they went forward with getting the warrant?
I believe they were first alerted from some “unusualy bank activity”
how the hell does the government get involved in a governors “unusual bank activity”, why are they even informed and how on earth could they get a warrant concerning that?
the warrant would have to be premised on national security and information otherwise would not be admittable…yet they are making it public
this is the type of information they have over our lawmakers
I completely agree with you that this was a political hit job. bmaz addressed it a little in his post in his comment at 76 and massacio is excellent at 85….. Mary and others concur.
remember when it just seemed bizarre pelosi would not consider impeachment?
I remember wondering what they were holding over her head, and how reid caves every single time?
what the hell are they holding over their head and they need to get the frig out of office so someone else can do their job
Okay, I think we got a roll up going on. Bet you dollars-to-donuts this is Rove’s response to “teh math” wherein the Repugs have had a lock on corruption in the news for the last handful of years.
Former Judge Tills resigns amid FBI prostitution investigation
Chief federal judge investigated for alleged involvement with prostitutes
Thanks.
Bush 1 appointed the Federal Judge in Denver.
Bush I was more likely to appoint a moderate to the bench, yes?
Need to remember that the US Atty in CO, Troy Eid, was a Greenberg-Traurig employee overlapping Abramoff’s employment there, and that he never disclosed his relationship as a lobbyist. I don’t trust the motherf*cker farther than I can throw his corrupt behind, and as US Atty, he probably has his finger in this situation.
off topic, I just made a book salon suggestion over at the lake, you guys have to get a look at “the true story of the bilderberg group”
stunning information, I just heard the author on air america and it will chill you beyond the marrow of your soul
To augment my earlier remarks (comment 177), I do think that executives of agencies that carry out almost unchecked surveillance and data analysis and politicians who support them hope we’ll believe that gathered personal information can keep us safe from baseless suspicions and false accusations. To really argue that, though, they would need to admit the extent to which current surveillance and data programs go, and they have been resisting that.
man I am posting double here and the lake because we are on the same topic but;
does anyone think spitzer should be suing the telecoms right about now?
or his bank?
man, he should go on the friggin attack
There are other concerns here; the sequence of events is really shaky. Which was the driver — cash transactions at a bank spawning IRS interest? or the prostitution ring? I don’t think we have this clear yet, no matter what the mainstream media says about it. There were wiretaps, but they may have been conducted legally on a prostitution ring — how do telecoms get involved here as a target of attack? If the bank had internal reporting or federal reporting obligations about financial transactions, this may have been legitimate, but exactly how’d this trip into the IRS and then into federal prosecution in terms of timing and amounts?
I don’t think Spitzer has enough to go on the attack — yet.
about my post on the book salon;
this whole thing sure does stink to high heaven, on so many levels.
here’s another one.
i’m surprised that no one here (unless i’ve missed it) has mentioned that spitzer was slated to family planning advocates of ny in honor of national day of appreciation for abortion providers. spitzer has made the abortion rights bill he introduced in the ny legislature his top priority for ‘08.
i can just imagine all his enemies snorting ‘we’ll see about that’. and he of course was forced to cancel this plan to speak yesterday.
also, i confess i’m pretty confused. i made a point to watch cnn yesterday on this whole story, and here’s what i’m hearing.
on the one hand, they explain that the whole involvement of spitzer and the prostitution ring was secondary to discovering the money issues that were raised by questionable bank activities. these are explained as routine and automatic flags on potentially questionable bank transactions, mandated after 9/11 for all transactions over $10,000.
ok. that makes sense. but then it’s reported (i.e., parroted) that spitzer was evidently making these several small bank transfers that eventually ended up in these shell company accounts.
uh, ok? but then, if spitzer is being nailed for structuring, why are they even bringing up the 9/11 mandated reporting piece? if the banks were only (innocently?) marking ONLY those flagged transactions OVER 10 Gs, then how is it they ended up accusing him of structuring?
and if his transactions triggered this investigation, how is it his reference is #9 in the indictment (and is he indicted there?)? especially considering the late timing of his ‘immoral’ behavior (as opposed to the structuring ‘crime’ that was automatically flagged as are all transactions over 10 G).
stinky stinky stinky.
Now that http://www.room871.com has already been purchased
I think DOJ has succeeded in truly securing this country–oh I forgot–”the homeland” from Ibsen’s 1890 play Hedda Gabler–the U.S. is “Mukasey’s material witness roundup homeland” now.
$250,000/yr profit for a ring that gets 4000+ a pop for the provider? Business must be slow!
The Mann Act. I looked it up last night, and from what I could glean,the vast majority of the human race would be culpable. If the Mann act was vigorously prosecuted in the 60’s…..Woodstock could have been shut down in a heat beat. And, they would only have had to go after the bands.
Boo R @ 187 – looking at that quote again:
made me wonder about about a few things. First, it couldn’t have been that tough for the Feds, once they checked out the “shell” company of QAT, to figure out that they were dealing with a prostitution ring. Second, there the combined reports of the wiretap expiring, and also a reference in one of the stories to a prostitute agreeing to become a source and the timing of the wiretap to start back up the day before an appointment, and the recorded phone message back, makes me wonder if “Temeka” was working with the feds.
But the biggest question involves how much of the Dem Govenor’s communications were subject to eavesdropping – wiretaps and intercepts – and what happened to that info. How many people were given access, then those they gave it to, then the next tier. With this DOJ, I don’t believe they kept themselves targeted on prostitutes phone numbers for the calls they intercepted. With this DOJ, the main thing separating the prostitutes from the AUSAs is the quality of the wax job.
peter pierce’s comment (202) just above coincides withs my suspicions on the spitzer “affair”.
and my look at scott horton this am confirms those suspicions.
“sex” targeting was always been a rove favorite –
very easy for the public to understand, you know,
and very valuable commercially for the media.
personally, i cannot imagine that this investigation is anything other than an exploitation of “anti-terrorist” eavesdropping.
and to be quite specific,
i expect that when we know the whole story
we will discover that the spitzer case involved the bush administration’s use of its anti-terrorists wiretapping authority to damage a political opponent.
that was always its most tempting and most likely abuse.
and isn’t this spitzer case a neat one if you are going to abuse your snooping powers:
– the gov did something most folks consider bad, so no public sympathy for the gov
and
– the bush administration can claim that it was not targeting spitzer, though it almost certainly was, but was merely sifting data and “just happened” to stumble upon the spitzer bank info.
the REAL potential for the fisa “reforms” should be rapidly becoming apparent to all.
i wonder how the congress will react to this vis a vis fisa “reforms” and telecom immunity.
maybe congressfolk will suddenly decide they personally don’t want to be “stumbled upon ” by an opposing administration.
And even in Canada (of course we know Ishmael reads here) EW and bmaz writings are read…Here’s the “numbers” point made yet again:
Toronto Star link:
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/338768
Great job on this thread bmaz!!!