By now most readers know that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has been implicated as a client of a high-end prostitution ring.   Some of our local public officials in Kootenai County and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, might want to look at how the allegations against Spitzer came together. 

Some of the details were disclosed in today’s New York Times article headlined “Revelations Began in Routine Tax Inquiry”.  What may have begun as a routine income tax inquiry by IRS revenue agents, probably in response to a Suspicious Activity Report,  was fairly quickly handed off to IRS Criminal Investigations (CI) agents and the FBI.  

Most people have a fair, consumer-level understanding of the duties and responsibilities of FBI special agents.   Fewer people understand the role of IRS-CI agents and how they and FBI agents work cooperatively to fight money laundering and other financial crimes. 

Whitecaps’ post of January 25, 2007, was titled “IRS Criminal Investigations” .  It introduced readers to the duties, responsibilities, and investigation methods used by IRS-CI agents.  The links in that post are still active today.

Spitzer is in a lot of trouble.  He was formerly the New York Attorney General.  He had to know that his money was being used to support a criminal enterprise.  He apparently took great care to avoid moving the money with wire transfers, and he also apparently took pains to conceal how he used the US mail to move it.  Soliciting a prostitute is the least of the charges he may have to face.  If he hasn’t already, Spitzer will lawyer up today.