Escort's Attorney: $5,500 Was Supposed to Buy Anonymity
Attorney says "exorbitant" prices are for escort clients' low-profile visits.
March 12, 2008— -- The lawyer for an escort who is mentioned in the federal government's criminal complaint against the Emperor's Club VIP involving New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer says the johns who used the high-end escort service paid "exorbitant" prices for anonymity.
"You're paying for the girl to leave and forget. That's what the $5,500 buys you -- a very low-profile visit to a club like this," said attorney Kathleen Mullin.
Mullin says her client, who has not been charged with anything, did not know Spitzer, but she has talked to one other escort who had "dealings" with Spitzer, known to investigators as "Client 9."
Mullin said all of the girls will be considered potential witnesses and brought in to find out what, if anything, they can contribute to the federal government's investigation.
"There are some very frantic girls running around worrying about their exposure in the light of the identity of Client No. 9, and there are frantic men running around Client 1 through 8 and thereafter who also are running around," she said.
Some of the escorts who advertise themselves on Web sites like the Emperor's Club VIP's said that escort agencies, as opposed to independent call girls, risk the johns' anonymity because of the middlemen involved.
