FBI; Spitzer investigation wasn’t about sex

According to ABC News, the FBI says they first became interested in NY goveror Elliot Spitzer because of large money transfers. Thinking it was bribes, they tracked his money;

The suspicious financial activity was initially reported by a bank to the IRS which, under direction from the Justice Department, brought kin the FBI’s Public Corruption Squad.

“We had no interest at all in the prostitution ring until the thing with Spitzer led us to learn about it,” said one Justice Department official.

Spitzer, who made his name by bringing high-profile cases against many of New York’s financial giants, is likely to be prosecuted under a relatively obscure statute called “structuring,” according to a Justice Department official.

Structuring involves creating a series of financial movements designed to obscure the true purpose of the payments.

Prosecutors reportedly have a series of e-mails and wiretapped phone conversations of Spitzer.

And then the money shot (so to speak);

In a interview two years ago, Spitzer, then-attorney general, 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 e-mail because it’s death. You’re giving prosecutors all the evidence we need,” he said.

I’ve never been a criminal or a prosecutor, but it’s been my experience that criminals are idiots – such idiots that they do stuff they know is wrong because they think they’re the smartest guy that ever tried to do this particular thing. SpikeTV and TruTV run hours of programming of these guys – just before they’re caught.

The Associated Press writes about the charges Spitzer might face;

Charges against Spitzer have not been decided and it depends mostly on “how aggressive the U.S. attorney wants to be,” the law enforcement official said. Charges could including anything from Mann act violations to banking violations to possibly wire fraud.

The Left lines up to spit out names like Gingrich, Giuliani, and all of the rest of the Republicans who’ve been caught in extra-marital affairs, but this thing by Spitzer was criminal – the transaction took place across state lines, the participants crossed state lines to commit the crime.

This isn’t just a guy cheating on his wife or a guy with a wide stance in a public bathroom. It’s criminal activity – Spitzer formerly prosecuted people for the same crime he committed. If you can’t see the hypocrisy in that, you don’t know the meaning of the word.

As for the “everyone does it defense” – no, everyone doesn’t do it. Only sociopaths who think they commit a crime and get away with it do it.

Michele Malkin reports a bipartisan consensus that Spitzer should go. I noticed that the DOW and NASDAQ were poised for a higher opening. CNBC called it the “Spitzer bounce.”

Somehow, the folks at Firedoglake decide that Spitzer’s behavior is the fault of Michael Chartoff. If Spitzer didn’t break the law, he’d have said so by now – what with him being a slick former prosecutor and all. It doesn’t matter how they caught the Governor of New York in an illegal interstate transaction, the fact remains that they did catch him and he’s not denying it. Banks are regulated by the feds, and they have to comply with regulations or lose their status – that’s not hard to figure out.

Instead of trying to weasel Spitzer out of this, try admitting he was a criminal involved in illicit behavior and take the high road for a change.

Please notice, I’m not holding my breath.

Category: Legal, Politics, Society