Scandal: Patronizing a high-class prostitution ring
How he was outed: The New York Times
It all began as an IRS investigation. When the then New York governor attempted to transfer upwards of $10,000 to a mysterious business known as the Emperor's Club, employees at North Fork Bank got suspicious. Their tip led federal authorities to one of the most shocking sex scandals in recent memory and to one of the most unexpected "Johns" in political history: Client No. 9, a.k.a. Eliot "Luv Guv" Spitzer. Yes, the same man who made a name for himself prosecuting prostitution rings as New York's hard-charging attorney general. When the New York Times broke the story about Spitzer's hotel rendezvous with a $1,000-an-hour call girl named Ashley Alexandra Dupré on March 10, 2008, he resigned two days later. When asked in December about his new job as a columnist for Slate, Spitzer deadpanned, "It sucks. I used to be governor."