We’ve just heard from Chad Bray, the DJ Newswire correspondent over at 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan, that, as expected, Temeka Lewis, the Emperor’s Club booker, pleaded guilty this morning to two counts of conspiracy for violating the Travel Act and the Mann Act, and for money laundering. Bray reports that there was no mention [...]

When the initial thrill and shock of the prostitution scandal surrounding former New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer dissipated a bit, the same, perplexing question seemed to beset the legal community, particularly those familiar with the workings of the U.S. attorneys’ offices. Given the scarcity of federal prosecutions for prostitution-related offenses, why had the Feds [...]

While last week’s wave of Spitzer schadenfreude may have left Wall Street types feeling warm and fuzzy, that seems to have been largely erased with today’s news of the Bear Stearns crisis. But not to worry — we saved one piece of Spitzer news from yesterday. On Friday, the NYT reported that federal prosecutors were [...]

Kelley Drye’s Don D. Buchwald, yesterday’s Law Blog lawyer of the day, is earning his keep. Working for $100 an hour as a court-appointed attorney for Ashley Dupré, the prostitute and aspiring singer said to have liaised with New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in February, Buchwald defended his client’s privacy in an emailed press release [...]

First thing’s first this morning: A big LB shout-out to the SDNY prosecutors. We’ve been so wrapped up with Spitzer’s fancy defense team, Don Buchwald’s assignment of the century, and, courtesy of the NY Post, this morning’s revelation that “Kristen” sports a belly tattoo that reads “tutela valui” (”fair value” in Latin), that we forgot [...]

The Mann Act? Structuring? Assisting money-laundering? Many legal beagles think these possible charges against Spitzer are, even with favorable facts, mostly a reach. Why, if he was merely paying a fee-for-service, and had no actual knowledge of the money laundering operation, would the Feds be so interested in Spitzer (aside from alleged political motivations)? Today [...]