Eliot Spitzer is out of a job as of tomorrow.
But even though the soon-to-be-former New York governor has suffered an astonishing fall because of his alleged involvement with prostitutes, he hasn’t yet been charged with a crime.
Whether or not Spitzer does face charges depends upon a group of lawyers with surprisingly similar resumes.
On one side are the prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.
In particular, there’s Boyd M. Johnson III, an assistant U.S. attorney who heads the office’s political corruption unit.
On the other side are some alumni of the Southern District office, prosecution lawyers turned defense lawyers.
Spitzer turned to them almost as soon as he knew he was in trouble. They’ve been doing behind-the-scenes damage control ever since.
Johnson, who is 40 and a graduate of Cornell Law School, is familiar with high-profile cases.
Right now, he heads the prosecution against Norman Hsu, a former fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats.
Hsu allegedly swindled investors in a scheme separate from his political activity.
Johnson, who left private practice to go to the Southern District in 1999, earlier prosecuted Baz Mohammad, an Afghan drug lord, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
According to those who have worked with him, Johnson has a reputation for being friendly but tough.
“He’s a very affable guy, but don’t let that affability fool you - he’s a very tenacious, determined litigator,” Randy M. Mastro, a partner in Johnson’s former firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, told The Wall Street Journal.
Johnson and his colleagues have to first determine what crimes Spitzer may have broken.
At least technically, Spitzer may have violated the Mann Act by arranging to have someone cross state lines for purposes of prostitution.
However, the federal statute is more likely aimed at the people who set up the prostitution rings rather than the clients, legal analysts say.
Spitzer’s moving money around to pay for the service of prostitutes may have also violated federal structuring laws that require banks to report some currency transactions.
The New York Times also reports that prosecutors are trying to determine if Spitzer used state employees or state funds illegally on trips where he met with prostitutes.
Spitzer’s lead attorney, Michele Hirshman, once headed the same office Johnson leads now. One of her co-counsels, Mark Pomerantz, was in charge of the criminal division at the Southern District.
Hirshman also was first deputy to Spitzer when he was New York State attorney general.
In 2004, the Times described Hirshman, a Yale Law School graduate, as “the very smart, very tough and rather short woman who’s got Mr. Spitzer’s back.”
Hirshman and Pomerantz are partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, the high-powered law firm where Spitzer worked not long after his graduation from Harvard Law School.
Another Paul, Weiss partner, Theodore V. Wells Jr., is also representing Spitzer.
He has considerable experience representing public and political figures, including former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
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