Spitzer Implicated in Prostitution Ring

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, the former New York State attorney general who was instrumental in waging war against Wall Street corruption and the mutual fund industry’s after-hours trading and market-timing activities, publicly apologized Monday afternoon to his family and the public for unspecified behavior, but stopped short of resigning his position as governor.

 

“I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family … I apologize first and most importantly to my family [and] to the public,” said Spitzer, 48, during a press conference held in response to an article in The New York Times that implicated him as a client in a prostitution ring.

 

While he did not address any of the allegations, he did publicly apologize to both his family and the public for his undisclosed actions.

 

“I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family. I will report back to you in short order,” Spitzer said.

 

As attorney general, Spitzer, who has been called the “Sheriff of Wall Street,” first uncovered and then prosecuted hedge funds, brokers and mutual fund advisory firms for their part in the after-hours fund trading and market-timing scandal in September 2003.

 

Those revelations rocked the financial services industry and resulted in a shakeout of several top executives at mutual fund advisory firms and billions of dollars in fines being levied, as well as concessions by several fund advisors to cut their fund management fees for several years.

 

Spitzer was also the man behind the 2002 so-called $1.4 billion “global settlement” among 10 Wall Street firms accused of biased analysts’ reports and improperly allowing investment analysts to influence initial public offering business.

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