That was a quickie of a lawsuit!
Eliot Spitzer has pulled out of a fraud and extortion case against an alleged Russian hooker who accused him of choking her at the Plaza Hotel — less than two months after filing the suit.
“Eliot Spitzer, by and through his attorneys, hereby discontinues the above-entitled action without prejudice and without costs to either party as against the other,” the withdrawal notice says. The legal term “without prejudice” means Spitzer could refile the case in the future.
Papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday say the notice of discontinuance was emailed to the woman, Svetlana Zakharova Travis.
She never answered the extortion allegations and no hearings had been held in the case.
Travis, who is believed to be the $5,000-a-night prostitute who once penned a tell-all about her life as a high-priced call girl, returned to her native Russia in February after recanting the widely publicized assault claims.
Spitzer, 57, admits in the suit to having a “relationship” with the pretty 25-year-old and even says he made “certain payments” to prevent her from making their dalliance public.
In 2014, Travis posted a video clip on YouTube of herself singing along to Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle.” She dedicates the song to “Mr. E.S.” — a clear reference to Spitzer.
Dubbed “Client9” in court papers, Spitzer’s hooker addiction led to his ouster from office in 2008.
The disgraced former governor also cops to a Valentine’s Day encounter with Travis in a $1,000-a-night hotel suite at The Plaza. Spitzer says in court papers that Travis “demanded” the meeting and “became enraged when [he] told her that he did not wish to maintain any relationship with her, that he did not intend to give her more property, and that he intended to end all contact.
“At that time she became extremely emotional, threatened self-harm, and made superficial cuts on her arm,” Spitzer says in the suit.
She called 911 and was rushed to Mt. Sinai West Hospital, where she first said Spitzer choked her and threw her on the floor, where she cut herself on a wine glass.
Travis gave conflicting accounts of the incident in a follow-up interview with detectives, then stopped cooperating and boarded a pre-arranged flight out of JFK to Moscow, sources told The Post at the time.
Spitzer was never charged with a crime.
The former $5,000-a-night hooker who accused Eliot Spitzer of choking…
Spitzer’s suit included an apology email purportly from Travis. “I’m so sorry, I wish this night never happened, I hope no one belives [sic] in this,” the email says. Travis goes on to say that she has spent time in “mental homes” in “Russia, Catskill New York, [and] California.”
She also promised to send a certified statement saying her “report was all fake” and she had attempted suicide.
But then Travis bombarded Spitzer with emails, voicemails and recorded telephone calls demanding “hundreds of thousands of dollars, trips to Paris and other valuable property,” the suit says.
She threatened to “ruin his life” if he refused to comply, according to court papers. The final straw came in June when Travis contacted one of Spitzer’s daughters via social media “to reveal false details of encounters with [her father],” his attorney Adam Kaufmann told the New York Times when the suit was filed in July.
“She also threatened to expose an audio recording she made of Mr. Spitzer in which, in response to her threat to approach his children, he became enraged and responded with loud, strong and direct language,” the suit says.
“Again, in her mind, this audiotape was simply another leverage point she could use to obtain money by means of blackmail from Mr. Spitzer.
“Her demands included not only money and property, but also that Mr. Spitzer enter into a relationship with her,” the suit says.
The suit sought unspecified damages for “claims of common law fraud, fraudulent inducement and unjust enrichment.” It said that if Travis failed to appear, Spitzer would seek a nominal $1 judgment against her.
His attorney did not return messages for comment about why Spitzer decided to withdraw the lawsuit.
Source: nypost.com
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