Update: 3/12/08 — Payments may be as high as $80,000, and state funds may have been used for transportation.
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Original on 3/11/08 — Did Eliot Spitzer’s payments to the prostitution ring exceed $10,000, well above the $4,300 of initial reports?

I don’t generally delve into criminal law, but this jumped out at me, and it deals with “structuring.” According to a post at Overlawyered, these are the elements:

31 U.S.C. 5324 prohibits certain actions by any person who acts with the purpose of evading the reporting requirements of Section 5313 (Currency Transaction Reports). The definition of structuring for purposes of currency transaction reporting is found at 31 C.F.R. 103.11(gg). The elements of the structuring regulations are:

A person acting alone, in conjunction with others, or on behalf of others,

Conducts or attempts to conduct,

One or more transactions in currency,

In any amount,

At one or more financial institutions,

On one or more days,

For the purpose of evading the reporting requirements of 31 C.F.R. 103.22 (requiring CTRs).

But something is missing, and that is the follow-up to 31 CFR 103.22, if in fact, that is what was being investigated.

And according to 31 CFR 103.22, the amount must exceed $10,000. So while folks are talking about $4,300 in payments to the prostitution ring, that smaller amount of money wouldn’t have tickled the bank into reporting this potential structuring crime to the IRS, would it?

It seems likely that an amount in excess of $10,000 must be at issue if this is what was being investigated, which means more of a mess than Eliot already has. And to tickle the bank to act, it may be a sum well in excess of that amount, because I wouldn’t think an investigation would be opened if they simply saw two transactions of, say, $6,000 each a few days apart. There could be substantially more at play here.

Addendum: Forty television trucks have encircled the Capitol for the media feeding frenzy.

Rumors out of Albany, via CBS radio is that Spitzer will resign and swear in Lt. Gov. David Paterson tonight. [Note: Paterson has only one “t,” which we might as well start getting used to.]

Feds have at least six different recordings from Client #9, believed to be Spitzer.

Spitzer’s statement:

Today, I want to briefly address a private matter. I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and that violates my or any sense of right and wrong. I apologize to my family. I apologize to the public, to whom I promised better. I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals; it is about ideas, the public good and doing what is best for the State of New York. I am disappointed. I failed to live up to the standard I expect of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family. I will not be taking questions. Thank you very much. I will report back to you in short order.

He took no questions. Video of very brief press conference is here.

It’s hard to run as a law and order candidate, presenting yourself as squeaky clean, and survive this type of thing. It shouldn’t matter, but it does. It also doesn’t help him that he antagonized so many people, on both the left and the right. Who’s going to go to bat for him and tell him to ride it out?

On a final note, it appears from news reports that Spitzer called for, umm, service, on February 13th. Pretty weird way to plan for Valentines Day if you ask me.

Charges have been brought by the US Attorneys office for the Southern District of New York against four people involved in a prostitution ring. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s name has surfaced as one of the customers as “Client #9”.

Fox News and CBS televison both report that Spitzer, famous for his law and order approach as New York Attorney General that he rode to the Capitol, will quit. Another report has called him Client #9 in a high priced prostitution ring.

According to a March 7 story in the New York Times regarding the ring:

The ring, known as the Emperor’s Club V.I.P., had 50 prostitutes available for appointments in New York, Washington, Miami, London and Paris, according to a complaint unsealed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The appointments, made by telephone or through an online booking service, cost $1,000 to $5,500 an hour and could be paid for with cash, credit card, wire transfers or money orders, the complaint said.

..

After obtaining authorization to tap the club’s phones, federal agents recorded more than 5,000 calls and text messages and had access to 6,000 e-mail messages, court papers said.

New York succession rules mean that Lt. Gov. David Patterson would take over in the event of a resignation. He was a Harlem Senator previously and will be the state’s first black Governor.

Press Release from US Attorney’s Office on the arrests: US-Atty-PressRelease.pdf
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Press conference slated to start at 2:15. Eliot “The Sheriff of Wall Street” Spitzer has not yet appeared.

Breaking story from the New York Times:

Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring
By DANNY HAKIM
Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning. He is set to make an announcement at about 2:15 this afternoon.