NY Governor Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring

[JackRiddler]

.
Client Number Six is the Duke of Westminster, called the richest man in the UK.

This is getting pretty good.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_worl ... ar_of.html

Richest man in England also a regular of prostitution ring in Spitzer scandal

By LARRY McSHANE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Updated Wednesday, March 12th 2008, 12:22 PM



Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster
(Photo: Melville/Getty)

The richest man in Great Britain was a customer of the same high-end prostitution service patronized by Gov. Spitzer.

The Duke of Westminster, listed as the world's 46th richest person by Forbes magazine, hired four hookers over a six-week stretch in late 2006 and early last year, the News of the World reported last year.

Despite his incredible wealth, multi-billionaire Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor haggled with one of the Emperors Club girls for the cost of their date, according to the report.

Prostitute Zana Brazdek, then 26, described the 56-year-old Grosvenor as dull and demanding.

"I thought his conversation was quite boring," the Lithuanian woman told the newspaper. "He talked about the Army, going to Afghanistan and bin Laden. And he wanted unprotected sex. I refused."

The court documents that took down Spitzer and identified the disgraced governor at "Client 9" also included information on nine other men who hired hookers from the sex ring.

The documents did not name any of the men, but the papers noted that "Client 6" enjoyed a romp with a hooker named "Astrid" in London. "Client 6" then called the Emperors Club to inquire about another girl for a follow-up session, the papers said.

The British reports about Grosvenor said the duke's prostitutes were young enough to be his daughters. They also had an international flair: In addition to the pair from the former Soviet Union, Grosvenor entertained an Asian woman in knee-high boots and a Brazilian.

The hookers included a Russian who went by the name of Stella. She told reporters that her clients preferred whips and stiletto heels.

"At six o'clock," she said in a thick Russian accent, "I stop to be a good girl."

Like Spitzer, Grosvenor is married - and he has four children with wife Natalia. The duke had close ties to the royal family and is one of Prince Charles' best friends. Grosvenor also is Prince William's godfather.

The duke was an official in the ministry of defense, overseeing Britain's reservists - including thousands who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He recently stepped down from that position due to the scandal and subsequent media attention.

"Reckless, boastful, stupid, weak - such lacerating words hardly exaggerate the case against the duke," wrote the Daily Mail.

[stickdog99]

Well worth reading: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/11/51123/3435

[compared2what?]

IT GETS BETTER.

Brenner may have worked for the IRS ?!


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... om.02.html

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Right now, we're getting some breaking news on the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal and the IRS connection. Drew Griffin of CNN's special investigations unit is joining us right now.

You've been working your sources Drew. What are you picking up?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, something that is very curious in the least. But certainly interesting at most and may explain why the IRS got on in this in the first place. Mark Brenner, he is the alleged ringleader of the Emperors Club, this prostitution ring that Eliot Spitzer, the governor, has been wrapped up in. We've just confirmed with the IRS that Mark Brenner, the supposed ringleader, was or is an enrolled agent with the IRS.

This is somebody who represents taxpayers in front of the IRS. That means he either studied IRS law and took the test or is possibly an ex-IRS agent with the tax company.

It certainly adds to the intrigue as to how the IRS actually began this investigation with money transfers and looking at how this money was going and eventually got to the point where they identified client number nine as being the governor of New York. But we are now confirming that Mark Brenner, the ringleader, is an enrolled agent with the IRS -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What an intriguing part of the story, Drew. Thank you very much. Drew is going to continue to work the story. I expect we're going to be learning a lot more about this investigation.

Oh my fucking god. He is almost certainly ex-IRS, if he does that kind of law. It's a very narrow specialty. That doesn't necessarily mean double-agentry, though. Scientology hired an ex-IRS guy after regaining exempt status, and if you are in a potentially delicate situation, it's just the smart thing to do. No one else understands how they operate, even if they know tax law well -- indeed, I learned everything I know about the IRC in theory and practice from such a source.

But they are TOTALLY not allowed to talk about ANYTHING having to do with individual taxpayers to which they had access prior to joining the private sector.

[compared2what?]

oh, SHIT.

You know what? Confidential informants to the IRS get a percentage of money recovered as a result of the information, and that does apply to non-tax-related financial crimes under the IRS CI's part of Title 30 -- ie, non-bank financial institutions.

If he wasn't QAT's attorney, he could rat them out at a profit if he was pissed off for some reason, or jumping to a competitor or whatever.

And he'd know that he could, if he used to work for them.

[chiggerbit]

sunny said:

Oh man, Hillary must be sweating bullets wondering about Clients 1-8.

JackRiddler posted:

"...That wasn't what Stone meant.

"My work isn't done there," he said.

"Just watch."...."

[sunny]

chig, you've got a good point. I bet that's it, exactly.

[chiggerbit]

With Bill, we'd always be waiting for the next shoe to drop....and the next one, and the next one, and the next one....

[sunny]

Yeah, he's a horndog from hell, but if he gets caught again wouldn't it be funny if he went up before the cameras and started whining about how Hillary won't give him any?

Yeah, I'm bored.

[MASONIC PLOT]

Photos of Spitzers hooker:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/ye ... sten1.html

At least he has good taste...

[Avalon]

She looks a bit too much like his daughters, and is only 5 years older than his eldest. May bite her nails.

[OP ED]

She looks a bit too much like his daughters, and is only 5 years older than his eldest. May bite her nails.

anyone know where I can find her?

[barracuda]

JackRiddler, compared2what?, great job here. Ok, I'm trying to wrap my head around this scenario. An IRS agent (former or otherwise) got an entrepreneurial itch and started a elite-style escort service, charging in the mid-four figures for services. This sounds like pure blackmail fodder from the get-go to me. Spitzer, who has been trying to force the monioline insurers into default, is introduced to the Emperors Club by someone, we don't know who. He pays via transfers out of his account at banks which in all likelyhood have vast mortgage backed security holdings as all banks like HSBC do. These securities owe their phoney "AAA" ratings to the fact that they are insured by the monolines. HSBC (at Brenners instigation? is the whole thing a front?) sends a Suspicious Activity Report on his structured payments to the IRS, and a wiretap is put in place by the FBI. Brenner stands to either go to jail, or profit greatly, or both. Further, a top republican dirty trickster intimates that the has involvement at some layer, and more is yet to come. The more to come part, I believe.
Is this close?

[compared2what?]

.
By the way, compared2what:

I need legal counsel, and will seek it tomorrow.

Why do you need it?

Are you... gasp... spuh... the governor?

No, just easily confused. Don't mock the afflicted!

Two things:

(1) I read hat CNN thing too quickly, registered that he represented taxpayers, and assumed "attorney," although it plainly says "enrolled agent." That's not (as far as I know) a high-chance indicator for ex-IRS employment. It could mean that, or it could mean he's an accountant who couldn't pass the CPA test. Enrolled agent is easier.

I regret the error!

(2) I just read the TPMM time-line of the investigation, and am so sorry to say that although it still isn't credible that it wasn't a sting, there isn't the clear procedural irregularity that initial reports suggested, since it is now said to have gone (1) from the bank to Treasury (ie -- FinCen, where it should go, not the IRS where it shouldn't) (2) to the U.S. Attorney (to whom FinCen can refer, although the IRS can't, except in very, very limited circumstances) after which (3) a joint FBI/IRS investigation ensues.

There's no disclosure problem if they didn't initiate it, just a lot of record-keeping and paperwork about what was disclosed in response to whose request.

I totally HATE when that happens. I liked it better when it was said to have started at the IRS, dammit.

Nevertheless. I don't believe the bank just happened to notice that an amount of money that met the reporting threshold and the pattern threshold was being transferred, even given Spitzer's high visibility.

There's nothing wrong with it, in the letter of the law. But how much money gets transferred by how many notable people every day? Millions and millions of dollars, by hundreds and hundreds of individuals. Banks are not in the law enforcement business, and no bank officer would ordinarily exactly expect to get promoted for taking the time to look at the accounts into which Spitzer's $80,000, or whatever, was going. They have to have had an external incentive.

Plus...I note that TPM is now pointing out the fishy wiretap extension. Excellent!

Thanks for posting complaint, Monsieur Jackrrr. I'm gonna go read it rrrrright now!

[Avalon]

The sublime, from Boing Boing:

Most excellent Spitzer-related media gaffe: CNN
Posted by Xeni Jardin, March 12, 2008 4:36 PM

I have nothing to add to this excellent sentence:
CNN apologized today for getting on-air analysis of Gov. Spitzer's legal options from a former U.S. Attorney who resigned after being accused of biting a stripper.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/12/mo ... spitz.html

[compared2what?]

Stephen Colbert just concluded an interview with the loathesome Howie Kurtz by asking him if he went to prostitutes, giving him only enough time to look stunned before thanking him for appearing and throwing to commercial.

It was priceless.