Eliot Spitzer may be in a bit of trouble again.
A Russian woman named Svetlana Travis, 25, has accused the former New York governor of assaulting her in a hotel room and revealed to police that he choked her. She also called Spitzer her boyfriend, sources told CNN.
The alleged fracas happened Saturday night at the ritzy Plaza Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The New York Post provided a blow-by-blow account of the alleged incident as provided by anonymous sources.
According to these sources, Travis called police on her cell phone at about 8 p.m. to report a breakdown and that she had cut her wrist. CNN described the call as coming from an emotionally disturbed person, a source said.
When officers responded to the call, Eliot Spitzer answered the door.
They asked Spitzer if there was a problem, he answered in the negative, and the officers left. But they did call 911 to ask the operator to call Svetlana back. They obliged, but the young woman claimed that whatever trouble she had been in passed and she didn’t need any help.
Eliot Spitzer accused of choking woman during fight at The Plaza https://t.co/620hkw7RN1 pic.twitter.com/RENH96PWif
— New York Post (@nypost) February 15, 2016
Cops didn’t pay attention — they went back to the hotel anyway. Eliot was still there, but the Russian girl had left. This time, police spied a fairly grisly scene inside the hotel room: broken glass, blood stains, and a mess of clothes on the floor.
The Edwardian Suite where the alleged incident took place, No. 1541, costs $1,000 a night and features Louis XV-style furnishings, gold bathroom fixtures, and a butler service. The duo were reportedly hanging out at the bar before Eliot used his credit card to pay for the room. According to NBC News , there may be video of them going up there together.
As they searched the fancy suite, Travis emerged, and EMS was called to transport the young woman to Mount Sinai West Hospital. According to CNN, she’d suffered self-inflicted cuts to her wrists. She also started talking, revealing to police that she and Eliot had gotten into a verbal fight that turned physical.
A source revealed that the young woman allegedly “told Spitzer she was going back to Russia, and he got upset and started throwing her around, choked her, threw her to the ground and threatened her. She then broke a glass, cut herself and called 911.”
While his alleged girlfriend talked to police at the hospital, Eliot Spitzer arrived clad in a skull cap to disguise his face.
It’s not clear what happened, if anything, at the hospital, but during a second interview with cops, the Russian provided a different account of the evening’s events and then went mum. It’s possible that Svetlana is already on her way home to Russia.
“She’s totally uncooperative and said that she was leaving and did not want to press any charges,” a source said.
Disgraced Ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer denies choking woman https://t.co/rFL4aZQuJm pic.twitter.com/985H0OHmgo
— FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) February 15, 2016
Regardless, the New York Police Department has opened an investigation and confirmed that the man accused of assaulting a young woman at the Plaza Hotel Saturday is indeed former governor Eliot Spitzer, perhaps just as famous for his political career as he is for his proclivity for prostitutes.
“The victim has indicated that the subject is Eliot Spitzer,” the New York Police Department said in a statement Sunday. “Through an ongoing investigation, we are attempting to further establish the identity of the subject and the nature of the incident.”
Spitzer has denied the allegations, hasn’t been charged with a crime, and hasn’t been interviewed by police.
This isn’t the first time Eliot has been accused of assault. Ex-hooker Rebecca Woodward claimed in a memoir that Spitzer pinned her to a bed and choked her during a $1,500 role-play session. In 2008, it was discovered that the governor had another name — “Client 9” — and spent a night with a prostitute named Ashley Dupree in Washington D.C. His then-wife, Silda Wall, has since dumped Spitzer.
It was also revealed that “Client 9” liked to wear black dress socks while doing the deed.
[Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images]