Quick Facts
- NAME: Eliot Spitzer
- OCCUPATION: U.S. Governor
- BIRTH DATE: June 10, 1959 (Age: 53)
- EDUCATION: Princeton University, Harvard Law School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Riverdale, New York
- ZODIAC SIGN: Gemini
Best Known For
Former governor Eliot Spitzer had a promising career until his frequent use of prostitutes was discovered, forcing him to resign.
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Never Satisfied: Why Powerful Men Cheat - Eliot Spitzer (3:10)
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Never Satisfied: Why Powerful Men Cheat - Eliot Spitzer
In late 2007, suspicious banking transactions led to an investigation of Eliot Spitzer's administration. A wire tap eventually caught Spitzer agreeing to spend thousands of dollars on a high-end prostitute.
Never Satisfied: Why Powerful Men Cheat - Preview
A preview of "Never Satisfied: Why Powerful Men Cheat, featuring Eliot Spitzer, Anthony Weiner, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Edwards, Tiger Woods, and others.
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Play NowEliot Spitzer. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 01:59, May 20, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/eliot-spitzer-279076.
Eliot Spitzer. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/eliot-spitzer-279076 [Accessed 20 May 2013].
"Eliot Spitzer." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 20 2013, 01:59 http://www.biography.com/people/eliot-spitzer-279076.
"Eliot Spitzer," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/eliot-spitzer-279076 [accessed May 20, 2013].
"Eliot Spitzer," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/eliot-spitzer-279076 (accessed May 20, 2013).
Eliot Spitzer [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 20] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/eliot-spitzer-279076.
Eliot Spitzer, http://www.biography.com/people/eliot-spitzer-279076 (last visited May 20, 2013).
Eliot Spitzer. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/eliot-spitzer-279076. Accessed May 20, 2013.
Synopsis
Profile
Politician, attorney, former Governor of New York. Elliot Spitzer was born June 10, 1959, in the affluent Riverdale section of the Bronx borough of New York City. His father, Bernard, was a self-made wealthy developer of apartment buildings while his mother, Anne, was an English literature professor.
After graduating from Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs in 1981, Spitzer went to Harvard Law School. There, Spitzer worked for famed law professor Alan Dershowitz and served as Editor of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, Spitzer clerked for U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet. He also worked for the law firms Paul, Weiss, Rifkind; Wharton & Garrison; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Spitzer found his niche in 1986 when he joined the Manhattan District Attorney's office, where he spent six years doggedly pursuing organized crime figures.
In 1994, he ran as a Democrat for the state Attorney General post. He lost, but came back in 1998 and defeated incumbent Republican Dennis Vacco. Spitzer was re-elected in 2002. As attorney general, Spitzer made a name for himself as a crusading prosecutor. Not only did he lock horns with the Gambino Mafia crime family, he also became known as the "Sheriff of Wall Street." In May 2002, he won a spectacular victory when he uncovered emails revealing that Merrill Lynch was riddled with financial conflicts of interest that affected its advice to customers. Merrill Lynch settled out of court for $100 million.
Spitzer, who made cleaning up the ethics of state government a priority, was elected Governor of New York in 2006, winning 69 percent of the vote. His hard-charging ways quickly put him at odds with the powerful Republican leader of the state Senate. Two aides were disciplined for using the state police to track the movements of Spitzer's chief political rival, Joe Bruno. Spitzer was also forced to withdraw a plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
Spitzer's political career took a scandalous turn on March 10, 2008, when The New York Times reported that a wire tap had caught Spitzer arranging to spend thousands of dollars on a high-end prostitute at a fancy Washington hotel on February 13. Spitzer's call was believed to have been made to an exclusive prostitution service known as the "Emperor's Club VIP," which was dissolved March 7 by New York authorities. According to prosecutors, the ring operated in cities across the United States and in London and Paris, and employed more than 50 prostitutes. The employees charged clients fees ranging from $1,000 to more than $5,500 per hour.
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