Spitzer's Sex Ring Run by Unlikely Madams

The prostitution ring that Eliot Spitzer patronized had at its center an unlikely quartet: a 62-year-old former tax specialist and three highly educated women, one only 23 years old. All four have pleaded not guilty to a host of charges, including prostitution, in federal court. The New York Times investigates what drove the managers of the 3-year-old Emperor's Club to careers as a pimp and madams.

Mark Brener began pimping to pay off his late wife's medical bills, dying his hair black and recruiting three women to help with the operation. One was Temeka Lewis, a bookish UVa grad, who paired clients with escorts. Fellow dispatcher Tanya Hollander was an aspiring holistic living counselor, while Brener's 23-year-old girlfriend was a grad of a tony New Jersey prep school. (More Eliot Spitzer stories.)