Spitzer Swallowed

(Newser) - Eliot Spitzer continues his slow creep back into the public eye. The disgraced New York governor will begin writing a regular column for the online magazine Slate, the New York Observer reports. Spitzer's column, called the Best Policy, will debut tomorrow, then appear every other week. It will cover government, regulation and finance, and will focus heavily at first on the current economic mess. More »

(Newser) - Former celebrity hooker Ashley Dupre has a new career in mind: musician. The call girl who brought down Eliot Spitzer has signed a manager, the New York Post reports. The infamous Dupre has made a deal with Chris Lighty, who has worked with 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, and Missy Elliott. More »

(Newser) - Silda Wall Spitzer, liberated from the constraints of being a politician's wife, has gone to work for a Manhattan hedge fund, New York magazine reports. A former corporate attorney, Silda will be recruiting investors for Metropolitan Capital Advisors, run by the wife of a long-time Spitzer friend and supporter. Meanwhile, Eliot may write a book. No, it won’t be a tell-all; he plans to expand his recent Washington Post op-ed offering economic advice to Barack Obama’s administration. More »

(Newser) - 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." More »

(Newser) - Former call girl Ashley Dupre is haunted by the pain she caused Eliot Spitzer’s wife, but insists her tryst with the former governor of New York was “strictly business,” the New York Post reports. Dupre tells People in a forthcoming interview that she didn’t realize who “Client No. 9” was until she saw him on TV announcing his resignation. More »

(Newser) - The prostitution agency that once served Eliot Spitzer is hardly happy that the disgraced former governor is getting off, at their expense, Salon reports. Spitzer evaded federal charges for patronizing a prostitution ring, prompting an attorney for one of the agency’s bookers—who is facing 6-16 months in jail—to call him a “much more egregious actor than my client.” More »

(Newser) - 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. More »

(Newser) - Call-girl Ashley Dupre has done the state of New York a huge favor, Michael Daly writes in the New York Daily News . If the sex scandal hadn't brought down "self-righteous, mean-spirited and divisive rich kid" Eliot Spitzer, New York wouldn't have the "warm-hearted and manifestly decent" governor it has today in David Paterson, Daly writes. More »

(Newser) - The “awkward” and icy marital status of shamed former governor Eliot Spitzer and wife Silda was on display last week in the Big Apple as they “made only two seconds of eye contact during dinner” with another couple, a spy told the New York Post . More »

(Newser) - A New Jersey woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Ashley Dupre—better known as Eliot Spitzer's high-priced call girl—and Girls Gone Wild for defamation and invasion of privacy for Dupre's use of the woman's lost driver's license on the raunchy program. More »

(Newser) - The call girl at the heart of the Spitzer sex scandal has dropped a $10 million lawsuit against Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis, AP reports. Ashley Dupre, who said she was17 at the time she was filmed for a raunchy video, had claimed she was duped into giving her consent. Francis later released film in which Dupre says she is 18 and agrees that he can use footage of her. More »

(Newser) - The case against Eliot Spitzer is so strong that prosecutors have decided not to strike a deal with the head of the disgraced ex-governor's preferred call girl ring, the New York Post reports. Rather than making a plea agreement, the Emperors Club VIP honcho will plead guilty Thursday. Meanwhile, the feds are probing whether Spitzer used campaign funds to pay for his $4,000-an-hour trysts. More »

(Newser) - The woman who managed the prostitution ring that brought down New York governor Eliot Spitzer copped a plea yesterday in federal court, the AP reports. Cecil Suwal, 23, giggled and cried during a Manhattan hearing at which she pleaded guilty to money-laundering and promoting prostitution at the Emperors Club VIP service, where clients like Spitzer paid up to $5,500 an hour. More »

(Newser) - While the fictionalized "Law & Order" version of her husband's infamous sex scandal was airing on NBC last night, Silda Wall Spitzer emerged from 2 months of self-imposed exile to attend the Manhattan benefit for Children for Children, the Daily News reports. The wife of prostitute-patronizing former New York governor Eliot Spitzer launched the foundation in 1996. More »

(Newser) - Playboy's June issue introduces a new term into modern sexology parlance—"to Spitzer"—the New York Post reports. The flesh mag defines the nod to disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer as the act of asking a prostitute for sex sans condom, as in "I Spitzered her, but she was like, 'Duh, not a chance, pal.' " More »

(Newser) - It takes a lot of extra sweat for New York's legally blind governor to act like a person with 20/20, the New York Times reports. David Paterson spends hours each night listening to recorded staff briefings—and memorizing speeches, since he can't read a teleprompter. And though the veteran politician knows Albany well, he's still learning the layout of the governor's mansion. More »