Some very weird info from cached pages of Spitzer prostitution ring: Notes from a different world!

[HamdenRice]

The name of the company was Emperors Publishing Media Group. It wasn't just a bunch of prostitutes, even high priced ones. It was a company that gives us a glimpse of how the super rich operate that is, well unfathomable to most of us.

Obviously they immediately took down their website, but thanks to google cache, much of what was up on their site is still available.

The company made "model" and "companion" introductions but provided concierge and art purchase services.

Their "contemporary art" page shows painting available from the likes of Andrew Wyeth and Jeff Koons:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:z10_KJMbozkJ:www.emperorscontemporaryart.com/ContemporaryPainters/ContemporaryPainters.html+%22Emperors+Publishing+Media+Group%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=12&gl=us

Their description of the concierge service is of a world that even most business travelers can't imagine:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:zrGDT2dnel8J:emperorsconcierge.com/Home.html+Emperors+Publishing+Media+Group&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

Emperors Publishing Media Group, an internationally recognized marketing venue for the highest - individual and corporate - financial elite. Exclusively created for Emperors Club members, Emperors Club luxury Concierge provides a wealth of valuable resources for those accustomed to excellence. Wherever your passions may lie, Emperors’ Club luxury Concierge provides extraordinary benefits that enhance life immeasurably, impress companions and enhance business / investment opportunities.

With Emperors’ Club luxury Concierge at your service, every aspect of traveling, dining, lodging and entertaining is elevated to levels only the most sophisticated individuals can appreciate. With extensive partner relationships throughout North America, Europe and Asia, Emperors' Club vip Concierge offers our members incredible access, treatment and value. Emperors' Club luxury Concierge is easy to use - simply contact our professional concierge staff directly via email and they will do the rest!

Emperors’ Club luxury Concierge's goal is to provide our members with incredible access and experiences across every area of their lives. From work related networking functions to a dinner out with friends. Apply for membership today and see how Emperors’ Club luxury Concierge adds a special element to your life.
Welcome To Emperors Club Luxury Concierge!
Emperors' Club luxury Concierge...Experience life at its best.
1 877 286 5338
© Emperors Concierge: A Division of Emperors Publishing Media Group, New York, NY 10018
To advertise on Emperors' Club vip Concierge click here

<end quote>

Here is their first page, targeted toward people of "immense financial and influential affluence":

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:x-De_IbeCvQJ:www.emperorsclubvip.com/EmperorsClubVipWelcomeX_models_elite_companion_travel_luxury.html+%22Emperors+Publishing+Media+Group%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

Social Event, Weekend and Travel Companions

For Those Accustomed To Excellence.
© Emperors Club vip: A Division of Emperors Publishing Media Group, New York, NY 10004

Welcome to the only social introduction service providing exclusive, beautiful, educated companions of fine family and career backgrounds to those accustomed to excellence. We act for a select group of educated, refined and successful international clients who give their best in all they do and who, in return, only wish to receive the best. Our especially unique introductions offer a sincere connection while providing you with the freedom of private, risk-free dating and companionship without long-term-commitment intricacies.

We specialize in marketing fashion models, pageant winners and exquisite students, graduates and women of successful careers (finance, art, media etc…) to leading gentlemen of the world. Catering to clients who will not compromise in any area of their life. We provide our customers and associates with complete discretion and privacy while we guarantee the most exclusively valuable dating and travel companionship.

You can be certain that each Emperors Club model introduction experience, while it may be novel for you, will be one of complete enjoyment in every way. Each of our companions is not only beautiful, but also a product of an exceptionally fine background, well - educated and an accomplished success in her right. Our meticulous standards of beauty, intelligence, presentation and charm ensure that you always encounter the high quality you’ve come to expect in a woman, when with an Emperors’ Club model.

Access to our exquisite array of carefully selected companions and the ways in which you choose to spend your time together make for wonderful elements of surprise, diversity, adventure and excitement. We reliably find the absolute best available, as ours are honorable, exclusive introductions meant to surpass even the highest expectations. When seeking an evening date, a weekend travel companion, or a friend to accompany you to your next business or social event our models are perfect preference.

The descriptions and photos of each model presented in our portfolio are recent and accurate. This gives you the necessary confidence of assessment when requesting to meet any specific model. The poses intentionally conceal their faces to ensure public discretion and privacy for both of you when dating. You'll appreciate that our introduction models are: Successful. Classy. Elite. Their private dating lives should remain so; hence they cannot post their faces on any dating / introduction sites featured on the world wide web. This ensures both of your privacy and discretion when dating and traveling.

As a person of immense financial and influential affluence, your privacy is sacred to all aspects of your life. As a private, international club specializing in catering to the needs of the worlds most financially and culturally elite, privacy and discretion are paramount objectives in everything we do.

All rendezvous are individually crafted to suit the needs of your specific occasion. Be sure to reserve your arrangements in advance as each model has place in her schedule for a very select number of dates per month due to university / career commitments - Their exceptionally high exclusivity ensures that your occasion will be special for both of you.

Our aim is to make your life more peaceful, balanced, beautiful and meaningful. We honor commitment to our clients as we covet long-term relationships of trust and mutual benefit. Experience for yourself the obvious distinction…

<end quote>

[Ellen Forradalom]

1. I'm going to barf in my wastebasket now.

[fed-up]

61. seven diamond model price tag-Thirty-one THOUSAND DOLLARS a day or $3,100 an hour-WoW nt

[crim son]

2. This is really illuminating.

I have to admit that when there was talk about white house connections to prostitution a la Jeff Gannon, I doubted. But the level of "professionalism" evident in this ring makes a believer out of me.

[HamdenRice]

5. Yup, that's it

They live in a completely different kind of world. Investment, art, prostitutes!

[roguevalley]

24. you can gild a steaming pile but its still a steaming pile

[Jed Dilligan]

3. It's just disgusting.

I have a very visceral sense right now of what it was like to want to storm the Bastille.

[NightWatcher]

4. the girls picture page will not load

http://web.archive.org/web/20070718055258/emperors-spokesmodels.com/Portfolio/SpokesModelsPortfolio.html

darn that system of tubes

[Poll_Blind]

53. See reply #47 (link):

HERE

PB

[blunorsk]

6. Thank You

this is good and valuable quick research. Let it be a warning to all of the trappings...
Jeez, and I was going to buy some Viagra any minute now from some foreign online drug store.

[HamdenRice]

8. rofl!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[ret5hd]

7. Will "Eyes Wide Shut" soon be considered non-fiction?

[Poll_Blind]

14. I was thinking just that when I started reading the thread, Ret5hd!

I'm kind of lost in all the implications, actually, so I'll just leave it at that.

PB

[quadriga]

73. Thought the same thing

[UALRBSofL]

81. I was just thinking "Eyes Wide Shut" after reading these posts

Featured Tom Cruise and his ex, forget her name.

[Happyhippychick]

9. I cannot tell you how disgusted I am after reading that.

[woolldog]

35. why?

what's so disgusting about it? :shrug:

[NanBo]

93. the writing style, for one thing!

my god, couldn't they afford a decent copywriter?

[yardwork]

96. Treating women like objects - "marketing" women to their clients?

You don't find that disgusting? How would you like your daughter to be treated this way?

[annabanana]

10. I would sure as hell like to see the REST of their little black book. .

Just sayin' Elliot can't be the ONLY big fish in this pond...

[HamdenRice]

12. It's clear that this was a networking thing

Just imagine: the super rich and powerful getting together, screwing prostitutes, buying art, and trading investment tips.

It is truly another world -- a disgusting one -- but one that wields immense power over our lives.

[redqueen]

29. Yup... I want all the names out.

If Spitzer is outed, out the rest.

Fair is fair.

[UpInArms]

43. can't be having any "R"s going out in flames

now, don't ya know?

:hi:

[aquart]

49. Exactly what my mommy just said. Why Spitzer? Why now?

Who was Client 8? 7? 6? 5? 4? 3? 2? 1?

[SoCalDem]

83. why?? here's why

http://www.senatorbruno.com/43/news/07-07-05/senator_bruno_calls_for_investigation_into_governor_spitzer_s_use_of_state_police_to_monitor_elected_officials.aspx

[Mountainman]

11. They provided whores, call them what you will,

[HamdenRice]

13. A lot more than whores

that's what's so fascinating and revolting. It wasn't just whores. It was this whole world of networking and investments -- and of course, mutual blackmail.

[Mountainman]

16. There's more than one kind of whore

[Forrest Greene]

92. Stylistically, Perhaps

At heart, not so much.

[Poll_Blind]

18. Indeed! It's a glimpse into an entirely different culture, for lack of a better word.

As I posted earlier in the thread, I'm sort of boggled by the implications. Not that I couldn't have imagined something of that nature, but it's akin to the difference between someone pointing to a 6-inch squid and saying "There are species of this little guy who get up to 60 feet" and actually seeing a 60-foot squid washed up on a beach with your own eyes.

PB

[aquart]

45. They provided willing women.

You stigmatize them as whores? Are you calling the men "Johns"?

[MelissaB]

64. You might be surprised at the people in this profession.

[catnhatnh]

15. The Republican version of "You want my sister?"

"She's very clean. She's a virgin."......

[Mojambo]

17. Bring back the guillotine. n/t

[Poll_Blind]

63. Can't/won't explain why but I Googled "Penis Guillotine". 8^)

First hit- apparently graphic (but it's a magic trick).

PB

[nancyr]

19. Obviously.....

only the most sophisticated individuals can appreciate this. It is not for us yokels to question why.

[Poll_Blind]

20. Plea for that last rec to make it to the greatest? I'd really love more ppl to see this. n/t

PB

[Poll_Blind]

22. Thank you to whomever gave the 5th rec! n/t

PB

[HamdenRice]

26. Yes thanks to whoever for all the recs -- for a view into a different world nt

[Rex]

21. ...exclusive, beautiful, educated companions of fine family...

Oh fucking barf. 'Rich' people suck and should be forced to live in cardboard boxes.

[AntiFascist]

23. Shades of "Eyes Wide Shut"...

I wonder if they held orgies in remote mansions.

[HamdenRice]

25. Eyes Wide Shut definitely came to mind!

But somehow I imagine they were less creative than that imaginary ring.

[AntiFascist]

31. There's actually a conspiracy theory floating around...

that Kubrick was made to die during the final editing of this film because he had touched on something that really exists.

There have been reports of various "rings" involving the Reagan/Bush administrations which are much worse than this.

[Poll_Blind]

66. I actually read that and while I'm not sure I believed it, it freaked me out.

I'm pretty sure you're talking about the same one I read.

PB

[AntiFascist]

82. I don't really believe it either, after all he was in his 70s....

and I believe suffered a heart attack, but I find it interesting that the idea of the movie being close to the truth was or is taken seriously. The Gregorian chanting ceremony seemed similar to a Bohemian Grove type of event.

[autorank]

90. I hadn't heard that.

Since Kubrick is my favorite director period, this is very unsettling.

[tridim]

27. I bet this "club" isn't anywhere near the most exclusive and lavish

This one seems like it's for mere millionaires.

What services are the billionaires and the ultra-ultra-powerful paying for?

[mojowork_n]

32. DING, DING, DING

Not to mention, whatever happened to that woman running for office, in Nevada, who set up the hotel room for Dubya and Victor Ashe...

...The Huffington Post has pictures of the Emperor's Club ladies, with bits of their bio. I was personally delighted to read that Anais (Not her real name, very likely, the really cute one in the tied off top and itty-bitty jean skirt) had a Master's Degree in Public Relations.

Maybe Spitzer should have just gone ahead and done what John McCain did -- have "meetings", with a "lobbyist." Only Spitzer wasn't lucky (or smart?) enough, to make sure his tryst took place on a P.R./Lobbying firm's clock.

[marions ghost]

28. Geishas...big profits

An art collector's resource??? Not very convincing. "Hence we value and appreciate our clients very much. One of the many ways by which we create and add special value to already extraordinarily affluent lives, is by enabling direct access to some of the world’s most captivating, authentic contemporary art available." :puke:

How do they get the artists to agree to put their works on this website? :shrug: Do any art transactions take place at all?

[SoCalDem]

84. Rummy loved the Geishas (pic)

[marions ghost]

88. OMG

:spray: :donut: bwahaaha, classy

too many Jerry Lewis movies...

[girl gone mad]

30. I think this is kind of silly.

These people are common criminals hiding behind a high-society facade. They claim the "models" are educated beauty pageant winners, but if you read the transcripts, they don't talk any better than truck stop hookers and one of the pimps complains about how unattractive one of the escorts is.

Criminals targeting rich people, who tend to overpay for everything, including sex, is not new or exciting. Wealthy people acting immoral and treating the lower classes, art and information as commodities is not new, either. Nothing groundbreaking going on here as far as I can see.

[Eric J in MN]

56. Can you give us a link to the transcript...

...you're referring to?

[girl gone mad]

67. It's on the smoking gun..

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0310082spitzer1.html

Edit: Here's an email from one of their potential hires. After reading this, I'd be surprised if she was even a HS grad.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0306082emperor3.html

[yardwork]

97. Exactly. Porn masquerading as something more is still porn.

Prostitution masquerading as something more is still prostitution.

[onethatcares]

33. I don't even wonder why they call it the "emporers' club"

the people they provide the service to truly believe they are better than anyone else, especially we peons.

No matter how you slice it, it's prostitution, no ifs ands or buts.

[Lex]

42. did they really misspell it?

:rofl:

[aquart]

50. Ever heard of nooners for art?

The Plaza Hotel was a great place to pick up a needy Pratt student looking for the price of paints and brushes.

This is just a more organized version. The world is greyscale and colors, not just black and white.

[Babel_17]

34. googled

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0306082emperor1.html

[goodhue]

37. thanks

[woolldog]

52. nice photos!

where can I join? :rofl:

[panader0]

60. What about the three minute rate??

[bonito]

36. And you can be sure there's spooks in that outfit.

[file83]

77. Yup, and they video the "date" as the blackmail leverage.

[yardwork]

98. Yes - I can't believe that Spitzer fell for this.

[Blue_In_AK]

38. Pimping is pimping, no matter who's doing it.

[Babel_17]

39. Wonkette has the story

http://wonkette.com/366083/a-pictorial-tour-of-the-emperors-club-ladies

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/busted-online-escort-ring-was-a-real-gem/2008/03/07/1204780030605.html

[aquart]

48. Who was Client 8? Client 7? Client 6? Client 5? Client 4? Client 3?

Why only Spitzer? Why NOW?

[CookCountyResident]

69. The IRS was following the money....

thinking he was moving around bribe money.

Spitzer THOUGHT he knew what he was doing by trying to hide the money transfer using cash instead of a credit card. As smart as he thought he was, he only brought more IRS attention on himself that way.

He won't get arrested for being a john.
He'll get arrested for a financial issue.

[fujiyama]

79. She was one of this first I thought of when I heard this

I knew she'd be having a field day with it.

BTW, a photo of the place Spitzer and his hookers got it on:



What a twisted bizarre story. They live in bizarro world.

[notadmblnd]

40. Sounds like the Millionair Matchmaker to me

why hasn't she been investigated?

[Lex]

41. Sounds like trash trying to masquerade as class.

Wait, I think that's what it was.

[yardwork]

99. Lexy, baby, I knew that was you before I even saw your post name!

[aquart]

44. Why is only Spitzer being outed?

Nobody else in government uses that service?

[Eric J in MN]

57. The other politicians are Republicans? NT

NT

[ismnotwasm]

46. Reminds me of certain excerpts

From Tad Williams sci/fi series "Otherland"

Creepy, that

[Poll_Blind]

47. BANG! Pictures of some of the "spokesmodels" right HERE (NOT from Smoking Gun)

Searching for the phone number from the web page in Google Images
These photos directly correspond to the Emperors Club page HERE





  5th one in from the left on the top row- appears to be the cover from this Bosnian women's magazine.

  

Bosnian super-model cooch up for sale?!?! Quelle surprise!

PB

[Babel_17]

51. Good search skills! (nt)

[unc70]

101. Could be using stock photos, or images from some other place

I would find it unusual that they would have the pictures of the actual escorts/companions/whatever. Sites for sexual services will often use images from somewhere else on their public marketing pages and not always legally or with permission (the model might not own the image).

Do you really think that the phone-sex operators match the pictures on the web site? That the picture in the popup ad for "swinging singles in you neighborhood" is of someone who actually lives nearby?

Maybe, but probably not. But we have seen blatant exceptions such as Jeff Gannon.

[WinkyDink]

54. They might want to re-think that "risk-free" part.

[scarletwoman]

55. Fascinating. The financial elite live in a rarified world.

I wonder what these women who are "products" of "exceptionally fine background, well-educated and an accomplished success" think they will get out of participating in this business?

Well, that's capitalism for you. Make yourself into a commodity and see how profitably you trade on the market.

As I said, fascinating...

sw

[WinkyDink]

59. Not so rarified. It's like the old joke: We know what they are, now we're just haggling over price.

[Poll_Blind]

62. .

:rofl:

PB

[hwmnbn]

58. Oops, I guess the "privacy" claim....

has to be taken down from the website.

Damn, I've looked in my recent mail for the Emperors' Club vip Concierge cardmember invitation.

I'm sure I'll get one next month. :evilgrin:

[file83]

78. How fucking stupid do these "Elite" guys have to be? Don't they realize

they are being played for blackmail material?

The power of the ego knows no bounds, it seems.

[JackRiddler]

65. K&R - good research HR & others!

[Zookeeper]

68. Why am I skeptical about the importance of the hookers' other

"successful careers" to these overpaid johns?

Page 5 of the document on the Smoking Gun site quotes the hooker hired by Spitzer. She doesn't sound like the sharpest tool in the shed.

[peacetalksforall]

70. How could a man with his career and position get connected with

a matching service THAT IS ON THE INTERNET? Are they not that exclusive enough that they have to be advertise ON THE INTERNET? Gannon advertised on the internet? These beauties had to advertise ON THE INTERNET?

Haven't they heard about 'spy fishing telephone company assissted Capture, Grab, and Plant howing and propagating'? Spying Farms. Operated by Republicans? How utterly, utterly stupid. With real and well coded worms and spiders. Geez.

Elliott #9 Spitzer.

The only good thing going on here (repeated from another thread):

He is not involved in torturing, authorizing torture, defending torture, changing the law about torture, propagandizing for torture, ordering silence from the media, imprisoning the most lowliest on the ladder and rewarding their young female higher officer and he's not 'persuading' Congress to shut up about it.

He didn't order anyone to pummel someone to death.
He didn't order a rendition flight.
He didn't snort with pleasure at killing.

But, to keep it fair, he was a hypocrite about practicing law and breaking the law.

Then, he honorably acknowledged it - without denials and game playing.

[Poll_Blind]

71. Agreed n/t

PB

[peacetalksforall]

72. I edited the post to remove 'resigned'. I guess he hasn't, yet, if he is..

[Ferry Fey]

74. It's not that sophisticated, reel your tongues in

Despite its attempts to look sophisticated, this operation is pretty cheesy and at best middle-brow. The written material the company offered borders on the sub-literate, impressive only to those who are thinking with their little head rather than the big head. If nothing else, Spitzer looks pathetic because he's the alpha male but had to buy sex, rather than have the customary mistress.

The art they are offering to obtain for their customers? Look, if you are a serious collector, you'd have a relationship with a dealer rather than get your art from your pimps. Nothing there needed depth or sophisticated art knowledge. Andrew Wyeth is totally safe, and if you can't quite figure out Jeff Koons, you can still brag about what you paid for a Koons.

Koons, of course, is no stranger to the intersection of prostitution and government, having briefly been married to porn star Ilona Staller ("Cicciolina"), who had been elected to the italian Parliament for a term in 1987. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilona_Staller

I found it quite interesting that there was what appeared to be an ad for Sotheby's on the art offerings page, linked to Sotheby's website. If they'd been just putting a link there to name-drop and look cultured, you'd think they'd put Christie's as well. Gonna be some red faces tomorrow, I suspect.

Some things to compare the money to:

Dinner at Ducasse, in New York. Oh yes, the price for a meal is now $150, before wine or a tip. (The tasting menu starts at $225.) Imagine how much it would be if you tacked on a $2,500 bottle of 1982 Chateau Margaux...The Blue Bar at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan offers a "Martini on the Rock" which starts at $10,000, and includes a diamond of the purchaser's choice. (No one has ordered it yet.) The World Bar in New York's Trump Tower is the home of the $50 martini, a mix of Remy XO and Pineau des Charentes, freshly pressed grape juice, topped with Veuve Clicquot champagne and a touch of 23-karat edible liquid gold. With tax and tip, it will come to about $64 http://www.forbes.com/2004/10/14/cx_cv_1014feat.html

The average price of a Manhattan apartment hit $1,369,486 in the third quarter of 2007 Yes, that is one million three hundred sixty nine thousand.

[fujiyama]

80. A $64 drink?!

Wow.

[BurtWorm]

87. The art bullshit is, precisely, bullshit.

It's just a cover for the real business of the Emperor's Club, which is what Spitzer and his "club" were interested in. This was not trying to be a legitimate business.

[VermeerLives]

75. LOL!

FTA: "Wherever your passions may lie, Emperors’ Club luxury Concierge provides extraordinary benefits that enhance life immeasurably, impress companions and enhance business / investment opportunities."

Ah, yes, "passion." Spitzer's campaign slogan was "Bringing the passion back to Albany." How rich is that??!!

And this: "Our aim is to make your life more peaceful, balanced, beautiful and meaningful."

Somehow, I don't think that's his wife take on the situation....

[TML]

76. I Guess The Happing Ending Isn't So Happy For Spitzer

What an idiot. Time to go back to the old "cash in suitcase" form of payment.

[SoCalDem]

85. GIFT CERTIFICATES??? Do guys give each other gift certificates for sex?

Somehow, I don't see a wife giving Hubby one of these for father's day.. Most guys get ties or power tools :evilgrin:

[Ferry Fey]

89. Next there will be Hallmark cards to slip the gift certificates in

Picture of a pool table, with "Happy Valentines Day, to the terrific guy whose balls I have in my pocket!"

Most guys get ties or power tools

These guys think they have the power tools.

[snot]

86. the impt point is,

could our Dem pols PLS START PAYING ATTN . . .

it's not like this kind of entrapment hasn't been going on for a few decades or more.

[Forrest Greene]

91. Really, What A Tribute To Ad Copywriting

Because, as the saying goes, "In the dark, all cats are grey."

[Joanne98]

94. Everybody in Washington is probably blackmailed by now.

Where are the rest of the names?

[Hissyspit]

95. LOL That was the first thing I thought of when I heard about this.

JUST Gov. Spitzer?

[yardwork]

100. Maybe he was the only politician stupid enough to fall for this.

On consideration....nah. There have to be some Republicans caught up in this too.

[Hissyspit]

102. Or. Selective prosecution.

From DKos diary:

The other thing that seems odd is that these were apparently CASH TRANSACTIONS, which are extraordinarily difficult to trace. And yet somehow, investigators supposedly knew that this money:

ended up in the bank accounts of what appeared to be shell companies, corporations that essentially had no real business.

How, pray tell, did the investigators know that without FIRST getting wiretap or other evidence showing where it was going? Presumably, the front businesses for this prostitution ring were combining Spitzer's cash with cash from other customers, so the amounts wouldn't even be the same. But even if the amounts WERE the same, with the large number of cash businesses in the New York area, it strains credulity to think they could match the amounts up and tell with any degree of certainty at all where his money was going.

And there's one more thing:

The inquiry, like many such investigations, was a delicate one. Because the focus was a high-ranking government official, prosecutors were required to seek the approval of the United States attorney general to proceed. Once they secured that permission, the investigation moved forward.

Is it really possible that the Attorney General of the United States approved an investigation of a sitting state Governor, based on no more than the fact that the Governor was withdrawing unusually large amounts of cash from his personal accounts? If there's more than that, it's not apparent from anything in the article, or anything in the Complaint (to the pdf of which there is a link in this article.

I make no excuses whatseover for Spitzer, who engaged in monumentally risky and stupid (not to mention hypocritical) behavior, but what bothers me even more than his behavior is that major investigations are being undertaken based on no more than the fact that a public figure is using somewhat larger than normal amounts of cash -- and that seems to have been almost the only possible basis for the investigation of Spitzer in this case. Because frankly, that suggests a return to the bad old days where one of the major activities of the FBI was gathering dirt on every politician in Washington (not to mention civil rights leaders and others who had somehow run afoul of J. Edgar Hoover), which was then used to intimidate them politically. And that's much more disturbing to me than Elliot Spitzer's tawdry, and apparently very expensive, personal life.

UPDATE: Another thing that bothers me about this, and bothers me greatly as a former DOJ lawyer, is that it would appear that somebody associated with federal law enforcement revealed to the press that "Client 9" was Elliott Spitzer, and that would seem in itself to be a serious violation of ethics, if not a criminal violation if it was grand jury information. Somehow, I doubt that there will be the kind of concerted investigation into who leaked this information that there was into where Spitzer was spending the cash that he was withdrawing, and that also disturbs me. Anybody who leaks confidential information from a criminal investigation should at a minimum be fired, and if it's grand jury information, they should be prosecuted.

[theboss]

103. There are some pretty obvious shell companies involved here

My guess is that you had a better chance of meeting Picasso than buying a real Picasso. But you could certainly pay your money for a whore to a company providing "concierge" service. You may even get away with using the company credit card for that.

[Vinnie From Indy]

104. LOL! I am a bit shocked at that some of you are shocked!

Rich people have been doing this since long before Caligula was emperor.