Escort Worker Pleads Guilty in Spitzer Case

Aug. 26, 2008— -- Tonya Hollander, a booker for the Emperors Club prostitution ring that led to former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's resignation in March, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge today, becoming the last of four club employees to cut a deal in a case that may still see Spitzer face criminal charges.

The plea agreement to one conspiracy count of participating in an illegal prostitution business does not require Hollander to cooperate further in the Emperors Club case, including any investigation of Spitzer as a club customer, according to her lawyer Michael Farkas.

That could mean prosecutors don't believe they need any information from Farkas in any investigation related to Spitzer or they plan to end the investigation, a possibility Farkas said was "unlikely."

"We have offered her full cooperation since the very beginning," Farkas said. "But the government was not interested in extending an agreement" involving her help.

Of the four defendants charged, Hollander, 36, appears to have been the least involved with the Emperors Club operation. She started working there in June 2007 and arranged dates between prostitutes and clients. The other three defendants -- club owner Mark Brener, manager Cecil Suwal and booker Temeka Lewis -- each pleaded guilty to charges involving money laundering as well as the promotion of prostitution.

None of the four defendants have yet been sentenced, but Hollander's sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 25. She could receive up to five years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, though federal sentencing guidelines would provide for a significantly shorter sentence.

So far, only Lewis has signed an agreement with prosecutors obligating her to testify before a grand jury hearing the case. Court papers indicate that she handled arrangements for a meeting between a prostitute known as "Kristen," later identified as Ashley Dupre, and Client 9, who authorities have disclosed was Spitzer.

Prosecutors have not said whether they plan to file charges against the former governor, who resigned March 12.