(Image Credit: Will Ragozzino/Getty Images)

John Edwards today denied a report by Manhattan news site  DNAinfo that he was a client of New York "Millionaire Madam" Anna Gristina's brothel.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who ran for the Democratic presidential nod in 2008,  is the first big name to be linked by a news report to the brothel, which was broken up by vice cops in March.

Edwards' lawyer, Allison Van Laningham, called the report by the website "false and defamatory."

"Mr. Edwards categorically denies that he was involved with any prostitute or service.  These allegations are false, defamatory, and he puts those who would publish or repeat them on notice that they acting with actual malice by reporting or repeating them.  He has demanded a complete retraction from the only source being quoted," Van Laningham said in a statement.

The former politician allegedly had a one-night tryst with a hooker in an Upper East Side hotel suite, DNAinfo reported.

It's not the first time Edwards issued a denial over allegations regarding his personal life.

When the National Enquirer broke the story that he fathered a child with mistress Rielle Hunter, the former senator called the claim "made-up."

"The story is false. It's completely untrue, ridiculous," he said in 2007.

Edwards is facing a federal trial, accused of conspiring to violate campaign-finance laws by using about $1 million from campaign donors to cover up his affair and child with Hunter.