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Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

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That "Emperor's Club VIP" site associated with today's Elliot Spitzer news

Posted: Monday, March 10, 2008 3:00 PM by Will Femia
Filed Under:

If you're like me, the first thing you did once you heard the story was go looking for the Web site.

ADDING: The links below are beginning to fizzle out. Until/unless we find some mirror links The Smoking Gun has the relevant "Client-9" portions of the FBI affidavit and it is more interesting reading anyway.

ANOTHER ADD: The funny thing about this case is that it was already a story before it was a story about Spitzer. So The Smoking Gun and a few other sites have already have material related to the prostitution ring.  Here the Smoking Gun has copies of some of the pages mentioned below as well as other pages of the FBI affidavit.

ONE OTHER: Wonkette found a way onto those removed Emperors Club pages and posts a few screen captures of the women's bio pages. Nothing more revealing than underwear but still not really safe for work. OK, go.

This is the one they're showing on TV, the Emperors Club "Spokes Models" site. There is one picture that switches to a woman in a see-through shirt (second row, third column) but otherwise I don't find anything NSFW here.

The criteria for "casting" is kind of funny:
Preferences given to candidates who are:
  • University educated, professional (Finance, Law, Art, Media).
  • Master degree or PhD a plus.
  • It is essential that candidate is Innovative, creative with first-rate interpersonal skills and high positive energy.
  • Healthy life Style / fresh perspective.
The main site is shut down but there are still lingering remnants in Google's cache:

The Welcome page
The rates page
General description (They had a concierge service, investment services and art sales apparently.)
The rest are "portfolio" pages that are nothing but dead photos, plus this one page for photographer Richard Prince (who we here in the cube farm believe was part of the art sales, not the "model introduction").

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Comments

I think what is most interesting is that many people won't see this as prostitution because it is an "escort" company.  There are obvious class issues with this, or that website would not even be allowed to exist.  I wonder if "streetwalking" is somehow considered worse because there is (I assume?) more danger to the woman.

Darrell, Pennsylvania (Sent Monday, March 10, 2008 10:46 PM)

Is it wrong to hope that Spitzer will resign so that we could have a blind David Paterson as Governor?  I just think that would be awesome.

Dan (Sent Monday, March 10, 2008 11:48 PM)

You gotta wonder about Mr. George Fox.  He supports Spitzer financially and politically then Spitzer is out there using his good(?) name as cover.  Definitely would put him off my Christmas card list.

And yes, Dan, since you asked, for that reason it would be wrong.  Of course "wrong" is so mid-20th century, it is wrong itself so don't sweat it.

KRW (Sent Tuesday, March 11, 2008 8:45 AM)

All advertised prostitution rings are "escort services" except in the few places where prostitution is legal.

Steve, AR (Sent Tuesday, March 11, 2008 11:50 AM)

I guess this is another example of Hillary Clinton's judgment and decision making. Spitzer was one of her biggest super-delegates.

Justin, Cincinnati, OH (Sent Tuesday, March 11, 2008 2:20 PM)

How terrifically ironic! A man who made his political career by ruthlessly going after criminals has no respect for the very laws he enforces. While I believe that vice crimes is an oxymoron, and that what Spitzer did SHOULD be legal - it is not. It is therefore much more than just a private affair and is a betrayal of both his private (family) and public trust. Hey, Elliot - you're the Governor, if you think it is OK to use prostitutes, you should have tried to make it legal for the rest of us instead of prosecuting people for it! Good riddance to another world-class hypocrite!

Patrick Doyle, Charlotte, MI (Sent Tuesday, March 11, 2008 2:54 PM)

"I think what is most interesting is that many people won't see this as prostitution because it is an "escort" company"

When I first found out about 'escort' companies, I was shocked that legalized prostitution actually existed. That's what escort companies (or at least some of them) are. I found out about them because an acquaintance of mine started working for one. She told me that the reason it's not illegal is because you are not buying sex; you are merely buying the girl's time. If you wish to have sex with the girl during the time that you bought (which, from her explanation sounded like approx 99% of the time), then that is between you and the escort. I think that this is a rather strange line to draw, but that’s apparently where the line is.

Michael, Halifax, Canada (Sent Wednesday, March 12, 2008 1:49 PM)

Escort services that provide sex are NOT legal just because they pretend that it is.  

If you think it is, go buy a piece of bubble gum from a drug dealer and have him throw in an ounce of pot for free and then try to argue that you weren't buying pot, you were just buying the gum.

Steve, AR (Sent Wednesday, March 12, 2008 10:53 PM)

what is most pityful for the senator is not in my mind the extramarital affair but the fact that in his mind women can be paid for their affection ;for a man  who is supposed to be intelligent and well educated...

Michel Léveillé,Montreal,Quebec (Sent Thursday, March 13, 2008 1:34 PM)

Did I miss something?  What senator?  Who was looking for "affection"?  And lastly, what does being "well educated" have to do with it except maybe for knowing how others have not been held accountable?  Perhaps the presumption of intelligence is mistaken, but as the saying goes, "don't let the little head do the thinking for the big head" (sorry if that's too crude for this blog space, but it's certainly to the point).

KRW (Sent Thursday, March 13, 2008 3:22 PM)

HAHAHA.  I don't think he was paying for her affection.  He was renting her body.

Steve, AR (Sent Thursday, March 13, 2008 8:29 PM)

What most people don`t know ( or simply ignore ) is that there`s thousands of escort services in the States, meaning the market for this is huge. There`s even escorts resorts in the web advertising adult vacations, like Charlisangels somewhere in the Caribbean. If this is true, this might be a long lasting issue.

George Mills (Sent Tuesday, March 18, 2008 8:42 PM)



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