From the New York Times:
Investigators Seek Records of Spitzer Campaign’s Payments to a Consultant
By JO BECKER
Published: March 16, 2008Federal authorities are seeking records involving payments to a political fund-raising consultant to Gov. Eliot Spitzer as part of their criminal investigation, according to two people with direct knowledge of the inquiry.
One person said the authorities had requested detailed documentation for thousands of dollars in reimbursements to the consultant, Kristian B. Stiles, who has worked on Mr. Spitzer’s campaigns since 2003 and directs national fund-raising. Another person with knowledge of the investigation said the authorities were particularly interested in hotel room charges during trips Mr. Spitzer took to West Palm Beach, Fla., Dallas and Washington, where he might have arranged to meet prostitutes.
Mr. Spitzer’s formal resignation as governor will take place on Monday, a week after The New York Times reported that he had been implicated as a client of a high-priced prostitution ring.
Campaign finance records show that Ms. Stiles, 31, was paid about $6,460 monthly for her consulting work on the Spitzer 2010 committee, and she was listed as having been reimbursed for nearly $22,000 in expenditures over the last year.
Ms. Stiles frequently made Mr. Spitzer’s travel arrangements and paid with her own credit card, according to a person with knowledge of the campaign’s operations. Ms. Stiles, who often accompanied Mr. Spitzer on trips to coordinate fund-raising events, was comfortable incurring hotel and other charges that would be reimbursed later, the person said.
Such an arrangement is unusual, said several people with considerable experience in the financial dealings of campaign committees, including one who had worked on a prior Spitzer campaign. They said fund-raising consultants usually insist that the campaign pay directly for flights, hotels and ballrooms because they do not want to be without that money while waiting for reimbursement or to get stuck with the bill.
Efforts to reach Ms. Stiles at her apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan were unsuccessful.
Charles E. Clayman, a criminal defense lawyer and a former federal prosecutor, said he was retained by Ms. Stiles’s consulting firm, Stiles Partners, in recent days to represent her and her deputy, Alex James, in connection with the inquiry. He declined to answer questions about the reimbursements beyond issuing a statement.
“First of all, Ms. Stiles expresses her concern for the Spitzer family,” the statement said. “As a consultant to the Spitzer campaign Ms. Stiles maintained possession of certain records. As a witness in this investigation she will be cooperative with all parties.”
No subpoenas have been issued for the records.
Jonathan Rosen, a spokesman for Spitzer 2010, would not comment on the investigation.
It is not known how much significance to attach to the federal request. Investigators have said nothing about the nature or specifics of their inquiry since it was reported that Mr. Spitzer was accused of being a client of a prostitution ring called Emperor’s Club V.I.P.
Several people briefed on the government’s investigation have said in recent days that the authorities were going to examine whether Mr. Spitzer had used campaign funds in connection with his reported meetings with prostitutes. Both New York and federal law prohibit the personal use of campaign funds.
A person briefed on the federal inquiry said on Saturday that in addition to seeking Ms. Stiles’s records, prosecutors were interested in whether Mr. Spitzer’s campaign committee American Express card was used to pay for hotels, transportation or other expenses related to the hiring of prostitutes.
Ms. Stiles was with Mr. Spitzer on his trip to Washington last month, according to two people with knowledge of the trip. It was during that trip that Mr. Spitzer met with an Emperor’s Club prostitute, according to an affidavit filed in federal court this month.
Ms. Stiles also accompanied him to West Palm Beach, according to a person who was on the trip. Mr. Spitzer also attended an October event in Dallas, where he raised money during a reception at the Hotel Crescent Court.
Later that month, according to the campaign’s publicly disclosed records, Ms. Stiles was reimbursed $2,700.25.
The State Board of Elections requires campaigns to itemize reimbursements for individual purchases of $50 or more. Campaigns are supposed to list any recipient’s name and address, along with the date, check number and purpose. It is this kind of backup documentation that the authorities now want to examine.
Before going to work for Mr. Spitzer, Ms. Stiles worked for former Representative Richard A. Gephardt, of Missouri, as a low-level fund-raising official. Two senior Gephardt campaign staff members said on Saturday that they had only a faint recollection of Ms. Stiles.
When she was working for Mr. Gephardt, Ms. Stiles put in for monthly reimbursements for travel, but they appeared to be for her own costs, and the amounts were far less than the ones she had put in for with Mr. Spitzer 2010 campaign committee, records showed.
She initially worked directly for Mr. Spitzer’s campaign, but started her own firm in 2007. One of her friends said she was quite close with Silda Wall Spitzer, the governor’s wife.
On her profile on the Friendster Web site, she lists friends, hobbies and a flavor of her personal tastes. “I love the shock value of calling a spade a spade and have been described as both feisty and at times very ‘Texan,’ ” she wrote. “I love exploring (countries, new blocks in NYC), college game days, anything involving a horse, politics, honky tonks and jazz.”
A graduate of Southern Methodist University, Ms. Stiles wrote that she wanted to meet “someone who makes me laugh, knows how to dream big, appreciates wine and good restaurants, and can at times be incredibly unique and spontaneous.”
Her lawyer, Mr. Clayman, has his own connection to Mr. Spitzer. He once represented a couple charged with diverting hundreds of thousands dollars of donations from Hale House, a Harlem charity. The state attorney general who brought the case was Mr. Spitzer.
Danny Hakim and Don Van Natta Jr. contributed reporting.