Spitzer resigns after call-girl scandal

As expected, Eliot Spitzer, the New York state governor discovered paying $4,300 to a high-class call-girl during a trip to Washington DC, resigned today. He told an audience at the State House in Albany, New York, that the resignation would be effective as of March 17. His deputy, David Paterson, will take over.

Spitzer was under pressure to go from his Republican opponent in the New York Assembly, James Tedisco, who had issued an ultimatum on Tuesday. "If he does not resign within the next 24 to 48 hours," he said, "we will prepare articles of impeachment to remove him."

Spitzer's wife Silda Spitzer had to face new reports that her husband's tryst at the Mayflower Hotel with 'Kristen' was not the first occasion he had made use of the Emperors Club VIP service. Citing sources close to the investigation, New York regional newspaper Newsday said Spitzer had used the international call-girl service at least seven times across the United States over recent years. (Continued below)

The Governor, previously the state's hard-hitting attorney general, is thought to have spent as much as $80,000 on prostitutes, according to Associated Press. A 22-year-old girl who goes by the name of Sienna told ABC News that Spitzer had paid her for sex twice while he was attorney general.

Because Spitzer asked for 'Kristen' to be flown from New York to Washington for the assignation on February 13, it is possible he could be prosecuted under the 1910 Mann Act which prohibits sending a woman over state lines "for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". In the past, Charlie Chaplin, Chuck Berry and cult leader Charles Manson have all been prosecuted under the statute.

However, Andrew Frisch, a criminal lawyer, said on Tuesday that this was unlikely. "He technically violated the statute," he said, "but it's just not right to prosecute someone because of who they are as opposed to what he did."

The FBI inquiry that snared Spitzer could spread beyond New York, with investigations in the Emperors Club's outposts in London, Paris, Vienna and Switzerland. Details of London customers who have used the club's West End office are thought to be among records seized by investigators.

David Paterson becomes the first black governor of the state - and the first legally blind governor in US history. Paterson, who has been blind since he contracted an eye infection at three months old, is the son of the late state senator Basil Paterson, one of the so-called 'Gang of Four' politicians who dominated New York's black stronghold of Harlem.