A Russian escort accused of blackmailing disgraced former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer won’t have to face trial after opting for a plea deal and a short sentence.
Svetlana Travis Zakharova, 27, pleaded guilty on Monday to a misdemeanor larceny charge involving a different man.
A judge sentenced her to 90 days in jail. She has already served more than that while awaiting trial.
Free woman: Eliot Spitzer’s ex-lover Svetlana Travis Zakharova, 27, is pictured Monday walking out of Manhattan Supreme Court after she pleaded guilty to larceny
A judge sentenced the Russian escort to 90 days in jail for scamming another ex-boyfriend who was not ex-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer (pictured in March, right), but she has already served more than that
Worse for wear: The 27-year-old appeared disheveled was was sporting a shabby grey peacoat paired with tights and sneakers
Luv Gov’s gal: Zakharova’s plea deal also resolves an indictment in which Zakharova had been accused of extorting $400,000 from Spitzer
Zakharova’s lawyer says she denies extorting the 58-year-old ex-governor. Pictured: Zakharova uses her coat to shield her face from photographers in Manhattan Monday
Zakharova previously claimed that Spitzer attacked her at the Plaza Hotel in February 2016 after she told him she wished to return to Russia
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark says the plea bargain also resolves an indictment in which Zakharova had been accused of extorting $400,000 from Spitzer by threatening to reveal details of their sexual relationship.
Zakharova’s lawyer says she denies extorting the 58-year-old divorced Democrat.
‘She had a long-term relationship with him and to be accused of extorting him was absolutely not true, and she would never admit to that,’ said attorney Joseph Murray, according to reporting by New York Post.
She pleaded guilty to signing the name of her former lover, toy store owner Paul Nippes, to a lease for a Manhattan apartment, costing him $18,000 when she didn’t pay rent.
A disheveled-looking Zakharova was photographed leaving Manhattan Supreme Court at the conclusion of the hearing Monday.
The 27-year-old wore a pair of light-grey tights, a grey T-shirt, sneakers and a drab peacoat, which she draped over her head to shield her face from the cameras.
Spitzer resigned in 2008, a year into his governorship, after he was identified as a client of the high-end Emperors Club VIP prostitution ring, infamously dubbed ‘Client No 9.’ He was never charged.
Zakharova previously claimed that Spitzer attacked her at the Plaza Hotel in February 2016 after she told him she wished to return to Russia.
When she refused to have sex with him, Spitzer allegedly screamed at Zakharova, ‘What am I paying you for?’ then called her a ‘Russian whore’ while ripping a wad of $100 bills, according to court filings.
The ex-governor had admitted to a ‘relationship’ with Travis Zakharova in a civil lawsuit filed in 2016.
That complaint, which was later withdrawn, stated that Spitzer had paid money to stop the Russian woman from making their ‘trysts’ public, and that her claims of assault were made against him in revenge for him cutting ties with her.
Zakharova was arrested when she returned to the US from Russia in October 2016.