Prostitution ring charged thousands for diamond-graded company
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')The Emperors Club, the New Jersey-based operation whose prostitution services were employed by the New York governor, Eliot Spitzer, had a flourishing business across Europe, with outposts in London, Paris and Vienna charging clients up to $25,000 (£12,400) a night.
FBI wiretaps of mobile phone calls and emails record the company employing a woman in London whom they marketed under the name Astrid. She was seen by a man in London dubbed by detectives Client 6 on January 12, and he paid the prostitute £500, later telling the club "she was very nice" though "next time he wanted to see someone else".
The latest details about the scale and international reach of the prostitution ring emerged as Spitzer, 48, came under mounting pressure to resign from within political circles in Albany, the state capital of New York.
He was forced to make a public confession and apologise on Monday for having "acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family", after it was revealed he had been caught arranging a meeting with a prostitute in a Washington hotel on February 13.
Police intercepts show he paid $2,600 for the rendezvous, and he put more money on deposit as an advance for future meetings.
