More Ness Mess: Life lessons from Client #9

Life lessons from Client #9
from blog.pmarca.com by Marc Andreessen

In a interview two years ago, [Eliot] Spitzer, then-attorney general [and now governor, at least for the next few minutes], told ABC News he had some advice for people who break the law.

"Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when you can wink, and never write an email because it's death. You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need," he said.

[Source: ABC News.]

At approximately 8:12 p.m... LEWIS [the madam] received a call from Client-9 [Spitzer]. During the call, LEWIS told Client-9 that the "package" [cash] did not arrive today. LEWIS asked Client-9 if there was a return address on the envelope, and Client-9 said no. LEWIS asked: "You had [the correct address]...," and Client-9 said: "Yup, same as in the past, no question about it." LEWIS asked Client-9 what time he was interested in having the appointment [illegal hooker sex] tomorrow. Client-9 told her 9:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m...

At approximately 8:23 p.m., LEWIS called Client-9, and told him that the [her boss] said he [Spitzer] could not proceed with the appointment [illegal hooker sex] with his available credit. After discussing ways to resolve the situation, LEWIS and Client-9 I agreed to speak the following day...

At approximately 3:20 p.m... LEWIS... received a call from Client-9. During the call, LEWIS told Client-9 that they were still trying to determine if his deposit had arrived. Client-9 told LEWIS that he had made a reservation at the hotel, and had paid for it in his [fake] name. Client-9 said that there would be a key waiting for her, and told LEWIS that what he had on account with her covered the "transportation" (believed to be a reference to the cost of the trainfare for "Kristen" from New York to Washington, D.C.)...

At approximately 4:58 p.m... LEWIS... received an incoming call from Client-9. During the call, LEWIS told Client-9 that his package arrived today, and Client-9 said good. LEWIS asked Client-9 what time he was expecting to have the appointment. Client-9 told LEWIS maybe 10:00 p.m. or so, and asked who it was. LEWIS said it was "Kristen," and Client-9 said "great, okay, wonderful." LEWIS told Client-9 that she would give him a final price later, and asked Client-9 whether he could give "Kristen" "extra funds" at this appointment in order to avoid payment issues in the future. Client-9 said maybe, and that he would see if he could do that. LEWIS explained that the agency did not want a model accepting funds for a future appointment, but that she was going to make an exception that way a deposit could be made so that he would have a credit, and they would not have to "go through this" next time. Client-9 said perfect, and that he would call her regarding the room number...

[During the next phone call] Client-9 asked LEWIS to remind him what 'Kristen" looked like, and LEWIS said that she was an American, petite, very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds. Client-9 said that she should go straight to [hotel room] 871...

Well, at least he didn't write any emails.

[Source: Federal indictment of the prostitution ring used by Eliot Spitzer.]

Hat Tip: Netscape

Is Prince Lazar of Serbia (1329 – 1389) Really Rolling in His Grave Over Kosovan Independance?

Is Prince Lazar of Serbia (1329 – 1389) Really Rolling in His Grave Over Kosovan Independance? Perhaps. I don't know. What I know is that Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are not rolling in their graves. What's more, I understand, that Karadzic's new book of poetry is enjoying quite a popular reception wherever a zither is heard, to quote Kedourie.

Calling Dalton48!

How the Ness Mess was Found, Courtesy of the NYT

NYT article here.

It's the Tax Man who always gets you:

The rendezvous that established Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s involvement with high-priced prostitutes occurred last month in one of Washington’s grandest hotels, but the criminal investigation that discovered the tryst began last year in a nondescript office building opposite a Dunkin’ Donuts on Long Island, according to law enforcement officials.

There, in the Hauppauge offices of the Internal Revenue Service, investigators conducting a routine examination of suspicious financial transactions reported to them by banks found several unusual movements of cash involving the governor of New York, several officials said.

The investigators working out of the three-story office building, which faces Veterans Highway, typically review such reports, the officials said. But this was not typical: transactions by a governor who appeared to be trying to conceal the source, destination or purpose of the movement of thousands of dollars in cash, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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

The transactions, officials said, suggested possible financial crimes — maybe bribery, political corruption, or something inappropriate involving campaign finance. Prostitution, they said, was the furthest thing from the minds of the investigators.

Soon, the I.R.S. agents, from the agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, were working with F.B.I. agents and federal prosecutors from Manhattan who specialize in political corruption.

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.

At the outset, one official said, it seemed like a bread-and-butter inquiry into political corruption, the kind of case the F.B.I. squad, known internally by the designation C14, frequently pursues.

But before long, the investigators learned that the money was being moved to pay for sex and that the transactions were being manipulated to conceal Mr. Spitzer’s connection to payments for meetings with prostitutes, the official said.

Sure. And if you believe that.... But the real twist here is where Ness got Capone, here, Wall Street gets Eliot (or at least it could seem that way). In any event, I still blame FDR for taking US off the Gold Standard in '33.

I Almost Forgot: It Was 125 Years Ago Today that Marx Shook off his Mortal Coil

Unhappily:

Beijing - Work in China on the first direct translation from the German of the complete works of Karl Marx has hit a hurdle as the world marks the 125th anniversary of the death of the 'father of communism.'

The 60 volumes of the second Chinese-language edition of 'The Complete Works of Marx and Engels' won't be completed in the foreseeable future because of shortages of staff and young personnel, said Jiang Renxiang, a department head in the Communist Party's translation office in Beijing.

'Progress is slow,' Jiang said 125 years after Marx died on March 14, 1883.

Persians Head to the Polls; Too Bad the Athenians Beat Them to It 2500 Years Ago

I like this quote from the BBC story here:

Voting has begun in Iran's elections, with conservatives expected to win after opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were barred from running.

The authorities in Tehran have called for a big turnout in the parliamentary polls, to defy the US and other countries they say are Iran's enemies.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flew in from an Islamic summit in Senegal to cast his vote.

He announced that the world had chosen Iran as its "role model and saviour".

This is like the video from 'The Onion' about how the results of the 'forthcoming' US Presidential Election were due to a computer glitch prematurely. The thing is though, this is a a story that even 'The Onion' writers could not make up.