Ex-call girl gives first TV interview since Spitzer sex scandal

ABC News Nov 22, 08 9:58 AM CST
(Newser)
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Ashley Dupre presented herself in a primetime interview last night as a normal girl who made some misguided decisions. The woman whose tryst with Eliot Spitzer wrecked his career told ABC's Diane Sawyer she drifted into the escort business as a "naive" and "careless" 19-year-old, just 2 years after ditching high school and moving out on her own. She chalks up part of her trouble to growing up without a dad. "I felt like I missed something," she said. "To have a certain level of respect for yourself."
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Crackdown targets those who deal with trafficked prostitutes

BBC Nov 19, 08 11:18 AM CST
(Newser)
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Lay a finger on a trafficked sex worker, and the Brits will slap you with rape and toss you in the clink, reports the BBC. New laws will make it a criminal offense in England and Wales to pay for sex with prostitutes controlled by pimps, as Britain's Home secretary pushes for a crackdown on trafficking women. Exchanging money for sex remains legal, but not so street walking and running a brothel, the BBC reports.
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Site takes steps to make sure authorities can trace those posting ads

Bloomberg Nov 6, 08 4:57 PM CST
(Newser)
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Craigslist agreed today to crack down on prostitutes using the site to drum up business, Bloomberg reports. The online ad service agreed with 40 states to require that anyone who advertises in its notorious “erotic services” section submit a valid phone number and pay a small fee via credit card. The information could be turned over to police if requested.
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Even sex isn't selling as truckers losing 'play money' bypass Nevada brothels

Los Angeles Times Nov 4, 08 12:00 PM CST
(Newser)
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The flagging economy is threatening to send Nevada's whorehouses to the poorhouse, the Los Angeles Times reports. Managers of some of the state's 25 legal brothels say they have no shortage of newcomers—some as old as 74—wishing to enter the world's oldest profession, but food and fuel prices mean the truckers they rely on for business are running short of cash.
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Proposed law would ban cops from
arresting prostitutes

Associated Press Oct 22, 08 7:39 AM CDT
(Newser)
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San Francisco could soon become the first major city in the US where prostitutes won't be arrested, the AP reports. The city votes next month on the controversial Proposition K to decriminalize sex work. The measure won't actually legalize the trade, but will forbid local law enforcement from investigating or prosecuting anyone for prostitution.
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OPINION
Smut may be losing its stigma, but at what price to marriage and our own decency?

Atlantic Monthly Sep 14, 08 12:09 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Does looking at pornography constitute cheating? If so, a lot of men are in trouble in today's age of instant access. Ross Douthat explores the issue in the Atlantic and finds the extremes of the argument unhelpful. No, digital smut won't bring about the end of civilization, but don't be too quick to write it off as harmless, either. "The Internet era has ratcheted the experience of pornography much closer to adultery than I suspect most porn users would like to admit," he says.
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a PI suspects sex scandal was Gambino paypack

New York Post Aug 28, 08 9:12 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A new epilogue to the best-selling book King of the Club suggests that Eliot Spitzer’s political and personal downfall was payback by the mafia, the New York Post reports. "I think it's the Gambinos," a private eye tells CNBC's Charles Gasparino in his book’s paperback edition.
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No charges yet for ex-governor

Associated Press Aug 25, 08 1:04 PM CDT
(AP)
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A woman accused of helping arrange trysts between pricey escorts and their customers has pleaded guilty in the prostitution scandal that forced Eliot Spitzer to step down as governor of New York. Thirty-six-year-old Tanya Hollander pleaded today to a charge of conspiracy to violate the travel act. It's against the law to cross state lines while furthering an illegal business.
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Says disclosure is an invasion of privacy

St. Petersburg Times (Russia) Aug 7, 08 11:56 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The mother of 'DC Madam' Deborah Jeane Palfrey is suing to stop police from releasing photos of her daughter's suicide scene, the St. Petersburg Times reports. A public records law allows disclosure, but the Blanche Palfrey's attorney argues it's "inappropriate, unacceptable, and personally harmful." The late Palfrey faced up to eight years in prison when she killed herself in a shed at her mother's home.
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Swedish bombshell operating as 'house mother' at NY strip club

New York Daily News Jul 29, 08 11:48 AM CDT
(Newser)
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NYPD vice unit cops have busted 23-year-old model Sabrina Johansson for allegedly helping run a brothel out of an upscale Manhattan strip club, the New York Daily News reports. Police claim Johansson, who has appeared in an Avril Lavigne music video as well as on the Tyra Banks Show , was collecting nightly fees from the club’s dancers.
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Epstein starts jail term for hiring teen, who serves him with suit

New York Post Jun 30, 08 6:04 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Manhattan banker and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida today to hiring an underage prostitute, and began serving an 18-month sentence. A year of house arrest and a life on the national sex offender list will follow. "They will be tracking you for the rest of your life," a judge told Epstein, 55, a philanthropist who has socialized with figures such as Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
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Station manager used loudspeaker to arrange business: cop
MyFox Washington Jun 27, 08 4:58 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Two workers in the Washington Metro transit system have been busted for running a prostitution ring from one of the train stations, and using a loudspeaker to arrange a tryst, according to police. One of the staffers, a station manager, advertised available "sexual pleasures" in flyers, reports Fox TV. She presented a book of options to an undercover cop that could be obtained on trips to Brazil—or locally, police said.
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Six face charges of prostitution and violating dance hall ordinance

Miami Herald Jun 26, 08 9:29 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The world's oldest profession has long since gone online, but Miami police have charged six people with putting it on wheels, the Miami Herald reports. A rolling brothel, a huge limo-bus with a tractor-trailer cab, picked up three undercover cops Sunday morning, offering an all-you-can-drink ride for $40. Once aboard, an extra $125 would earn a trip to the curtained-off “VIP room," with a promise to "get your money worth."
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It rescues 21 kids, arrests hundreds of adults in 16 cities

Associated Press Jun 25, 08 9:29 PM CDT
(AP)
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Hundreds of people have been arrested and 21 children rescued in what the FBI is calling a five-day roundup of networks of pimps who force children into prostitution. In all, authorities arrested 345 people, including 290 adult prostitutes, during the operation that ended this week in 16 major cities. "The sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unforgivable crimes in this country," said FBI chief Robert Mueller.
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