NEW YORK, March 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday denied a request by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to black out his name from documents that linked him to a prostitution ring which are due to be unsealed.
In a decision made public on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff denied a request by Spitzer to seek redactions of the documents to be unsealed that may potentially shed more light on the scandal that forced Spitzer to resign.
The judge in February ruled in favor of a request by The New York Times to unseal documents that outlined U.S. prosecutors' probable cause for wiretapping two cellphones belonging to the prostitution ring. The newspaper and the government agreed then that other customers' names would be blacked out of the document, but not Spitzer's since his involvement was the reason the Times sought the material.
'The court is not without sympathy for Mr Spitzer's desire to avoid another round of the salacious coverage that has attended his involvement with the Emperors' Club,' said U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff. 'Sympathy, however, can neither create jurisdiction nor obviate untimeliness.'
Spitzer was forced to resign last March shortly after The Times reported he was a client of the prostitution ring under investigation.
The judge said Spitzer's motions to intervene -- made after he realized the government did not plan to black out his name from any part of the materials to be released -- came too late and were outside his jurisdiction.
The materials to be unsealed are affidavits and other documents that prosecutors filed in support of their request to wiretap. A date for their release is pending while the government appeals the February ruling.
The documents do not include transcripts or recordings of any conversations, David McCraw, a lawyer for The Times, said after February's ruling. The newspaper had asked for everything in the file and was told the wiretaps did not produce any material that warranted going in the file, McCraw said.
The resignation of the Democratic governor rocked Washington and Wall Street, where Spitzer had created enemies through his aggressive investigation of fraud cases in his previous post as attorney general of the state.
Spitzer was never charged with a crime. Four organizers of the ring were charged and pleaded guilty, putting an end to the criminal case.
(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Claudia Parsons and Cynthia Osterman) Keywords: NEWYORK SPITZER/ (nyc.buro@reuters.com; 1 646 223 6280; Reuters Messaging: christine.kearney.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
In a decision made public on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff denied a request by Spitzer to seek redactions of the documents to be unsealed that may potentially shed more light on the scandal that forced Spitzer to resign.
The judge in February ruled in favor of a request by The New York Times to unseal documents that outlined U.S. prosecutors' probable cause for wiretapping two cellphones belonging to the prostitution ring. The newspaper and the government agreed then that other customers' names would be blacked out of the document, but not Spitzer's since his involvement was the reason the Times sought the material.
'The court is not without sympathy for Mr Spitzer's desire to avoid another round of the salacious coverage that has attended his involvement with the Emperors' Club,' said U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff. 'Sympathy, however, can neither create jurisdiction nor obviate untimeliness.'
Spitzer was forced to resign last March shortly after The Times reported he was a client of the prostitution ring under investigation.
The judge said Spitzer's motions to intervene -- made after he realized the government did not plan to black out his name from any part of the materials to be released -- came too late and were outside his jurisdiction.
The materials to be unsealed are affidavits and other documents that prosecutors filed in support of their request to wiretap. A date for their release is pending while the government appeals the February ruling.
The documents do not include transcripts or recordings of any conversations, David McCraw, a lawyer for The Times, said after February's ruling. The newspaper had asked for everything in the file and was told the wiretaps did not produce any material that warranted going in the file, McCraw said.
The resignation of the Democratic governor rocked Washington and Wall Street, where Spitzer had created enemies through his aggressive investigation of fraud cases in his previous post as attorney general of the state.
Spitzer was never charged with a crime. Four organizers of the ring were charged and pleaded guilty, putting an end to the criminal case.
(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Claudia Parsons and Cynthia Osterman) Keywords: NEWYORK SPITZER/ (nyc.buro@reuters.com; 1 646 223 6280; Reuters Messaging: christine.kearney.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.