New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned yesterday amid allegations that he patronized prostitutes, is now in a legal fight to avoid criminal charges. Spitzer, 48, stepped down after the New York Times reported he was ``Client 9'' of an international call-girl ring whose operators were charged with crimes last week. Spitzer's lawyers need to persuade the U.S. government not to file related charges against him because he allegedly summoned prostitutes to Washington and paid them secretly, former prosecutors said.
Prosecutors are more likely to consider going after Spitzer, a Democrat, for money laundering or misusing his office than for prostitution because customers of call girls are rarely pursued by federal authorities, the lawyers and ex-prosecutors said. ``Given the rarity of federal prosecutions of this kind of conduct, the motives of the prosecutors might be called into question,'' said Steven Peikin, a former U.S. prosecutor in Manhattan. ``The facts that are not well known are those surrounding the financial transactions. That would be an area of greater concern.''