Feds Won’t Charge Eliot Spitzer, Ex-New York Governor and AG

Eliot Spitzer, whose law-and-order image was tarnished earlier this year when his reported use of high-class prostitutes made international headlines, won't be federally prosecuted.

Michael Garcia, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, announced today that federal prosecutors won't file criminal charges against the former New York governor and ex-attorney general of the state, reports the City Room blog of the New York Times.

That's because the investigation found no evidence that Spitzer had paid for prostitution services with campaign funds, reports the Associated Press, and it is longstanding policy and in the public interest not to prosecute prostitution charges against clients, according to a statement by Garcia.

In addition to the campaign-funds issue, "federal prosecutors had been investigating whether Mr. Spitzer committed a crime known as structuring, or making payments in such a way as to conceal their purpose and source, by wiring money into a bank account controlled by the prostitution ring," the Times blog explains. However, the federal investigation found "insufficient evidence" to pursue charges concerning his payments.