Prostitution Case Features Prosecutors of Corruption - March 10, 2008

Prosecutors specializing in government corruption cases are leading the investigation into what authorities say was a prostitution service that charged up to $5,500 an hour — suggesting that the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan may have evidence that a public official hired a prostitute.

Federal prosecutors here recently unsealed a criminal complaint charging four people with running Emperors Club VIP, which advertised itself as an escort service. Prosecutors say the Emperors Club employed more than 50 high-end prostitutes.

During a court hearing in the case, at which the four people were arraigned, it emerged that all three of the assistant U.S. attorneys assigned to the prosecution are part of the U.S. attorney’s public corruption unit. One is the bureau’s chief, Boyd Johnson III. The unit investigates wrongdoing by both elected and nonelected officials and bureaucrats at various levels of government.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, Yusill Scribner, would not comment when asked whether a public official was among the clients of the Emperors Club. But the involvement of the public corruption unit raised eyebrows among the defense lawyers.

“When we first got the case, we were surprised that these were the assistants handling the case,” said a defense attorney, David Gordon, who represents one of two women alleged to have booked engagements for prostitutes.

Emperors Club billed itself as a service for wealthy men that provided introductions to models as well as investment advice, according to its Web site, which has been taken down. The business generated more than a million dollars in revenue, prosecutors say, and $600,000 in cash was found at the New Jersey apartment where the two main managers of Emperors Club, Mark Brener, 62, and Cecil Suwal, 23, lived.

var sc_project=1609654; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_partition=15; var sc_security=”26e26d49″;