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Former mistress of Spitzer arrested on charges she tried to extort $50K from him
Svetlanta Travis, who accused the ex-gov of choking her, faces charges of grand larceny
Police on Monday arrested the woman who accused Eliot Spitzer of choking her in a Plaza hotel room for allegedly trying to extort $50,000 from the ex-governor.
Svetlana Travis, also known as Andreevna Zakharova, faces charges of grand larceny after traveling from Russia to extort $50,000 from Spitzer, the New York Post reported. She was also charged with forgery for a separate incident for allegedly forging an unnamed businessman’s signature on an $18,000 lease.
Her arrest is the latest development in a series of accusations flung between the ex-governor turned real estate developer and his former mistress.
Travis told police in February that Spitzer [TRDataCustom] choked her in a room at The Plaza Hotel. But she gave conflicting accounts of what happened that night to police and later retracted the accusation before flying back to Russia. Spitzer then filed a lawsuit against her in July, alleging that she was trying to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from him.
He withdrew this lawsuit in September.
Spitzer was forced to step down from his post as governor in 2008 after he was named as “Client9” in an investigation into a prostitution ring. He later took control of his family real estate company, Spitzer Enterprises.
The firm is currently developing an 856-unit rental complex at 420 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. He received a $330 million loan for the project in June. [NYP] — Kathryn Brenzel