An upstate woman accused of running a lucrative Upper East Side brothel and boasting of law-enforcement connections was sentenced on Tuesday to six months in prison after weighing a last-minute decision to fight the case in court. Attorneys and family for Anna Gristina said she considered withdrawing her Sept. 24 guilty plea to promoting prostitution up until the moment she agreed to accept the sentence handed down by Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Juan Merchan. “It was a very difficult decision, and until the penultimate moment, it was an open question on whether she would elect go to trail,” said attorney Norman Pattis. Gristina, who was once dubbed the “Manhattan Madam” and the “Soccer Mom Madam,” will not have to serve any jail time, getting credit for four months she served at Riker’s Island because she could not make the initial $2 million bail…As she left the courthouse, Gristina told reporters that she plans to write tell-all book and called the Manhattan District Attorney’s office “more corrupt than the mafia.” Gristina’s case received extended media coverage following her February arrest amid an unconfirmed belief she had guarded a client list of recognizable and powerful figures in politics, sports and banking. Her lawyers had argued she was being “vindictively prosecuted” because she refused to provide investigators with the names of five well-connected male customers, who weren’t identified. [Metropolis]
Anna Gristina
April 3, 2012: Report details ease with which alleged madam and so-called animal lover Anna Gristina sells majority of pet pigs in order to pay legal fees. April 9, 2012: Gristina is denied bailed reduction for a 4th time, must figure out a way to come up with the remaining scratch. Though family claims it won’t come to it, must be noted that AG still has two prized pigs to her name to speak of… June 12, 2012: Gristina’s bail is lowered from $2 million to $250,000 bond or $125,000 cash, which hopefully she can come up with without resorting to drastic measures. [DNAI]
Unable to post her $2 million bail and desperate to get her out of jail and home for Mother’s Day, the husband and kids of accused Upper East Side madam Anna Gristina have gone public to raise money. The family yesterday launched a Web site asking for donations toward her whopping bail, which they blast as “cruel and unusual.” The site, www.helpanna.org, features photos of Gristina with her kids and information about her pig-rescue farm. Gristina was arrested on Feb. 22 on a single count of promoting prostitution. Since then, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has refused to budge on Gristina’s sky-high bail of $2 million bond — or $1 million cash — siding with prosecutors who claim the Scottish-born mom of four is a flight risk. Gristina lawyer Gary Greenwald has argued that the “outrageous’’ bond is beyond what’s given for mobsters, drug dealers and murderers. [NYP, related]
April 3, 2012: Report details ease with which alleged madam and so-called animal lover Anna Gristina sells majority of pet pigs in order to pay legal fees. April 9, 2012: Gristina is denied bailed reduction for a 4th time, must figure out a way to come up with the remaining scratch. Still has two prized pigs to her name to speak of…
Back in March, a woman named Anna Gristina was arrested for allegedly running a whorehouse out of an East 78th Street apartment, with plans to go global. In that time, we’ve learned a good bit about Gristina (who goes by Anna Scotland professionally), who currently remains incarcerated on Riker’s Island. For instance, at the time of her arrest, she was meeting with a friend and broker who was supposedly helping her line up financing to expand the venture (which she maintains was an upscale dating site), she paid her hookers well, and she was an animal lover. Emphasis on the past tense because apparently anyone can be an animal lover until push comes to shove and mommy needs money for legal fees. Then it’s good-bye lush accommodations upstate, hello slaughterhouse. Read more »
Except for double-teaming clients, which was huge. Read more »
Since being arrested nine days ago, accused madam Anna Gristina/Scotland has made a bunch of claims vis-à-vis charging people between $1000 and $2000/hour to be set up with hookers who bring other things to the table besides a hideously decorated fuck pad. 1) That a meeting with Morgan Stanley employee David Walker on the day of her arrest was not about expanding her brothel business on the internet (Anna maintains the duo was discussing financing for a “dating site to rival Match.com”) 2) That the apartment she rents on East 78th Street, which various escorts have already claimed to entertain customers in, is not a whorehouse and 3) That she will not give up any of the names of her clients, which allegedly include “wealthy, powerful politicians, top-law enforcement, lawyers, and bankers.” These statements likely came as a relief to anyone who spent time in Gristina’s Upper East Side headquarters but, unfortunately, things often change after a few nights spent on Riker’s Island. According to reports, Anna is “considering a plea bargain,” and, perhaps as alarmingly to the “plenty of people she had at Morgan Stanley,” et al, the DA is examining who might have left some of his/her DNA behind at 304 East 78th Street. Read more »
As was widely reported last week, accused Madam Anna Gristina (who went by Anna Scotland professionally) was arrested moments after leaving a meeting with supposed business partner (and Morgan Stanley employee currently on leave) David Walker. At the time, Gristina and Walker were said discussing financing for her business, an alleged brothel on East 78th Street. If we’re to believe the Manhattan DA and the various employees of Anna who’ve come forward, Gristina/Scotland and Walker were trying to raise money to expand her brothel biz on the internet, where more “powerful and wealthy men” looking to pay between $1000 and $2000 an hour could be reached. If we’re to believe Gristina/Scotland’s lawyers, she and Walker were trying to raise money not for a whorehouse but for an “internet dating site to rival Match.com.” Today brings new evidence that could potentially shed light for either argument: interior shots of the East 78th Street Headquarters. Read more »
Gristina reportedly ran a top-shelf operation, carefully choosing her stable of women and screening potential clients…the married mother of four took just a 40% cut of her employees’ billings during her 15 years in business — well below the industry standard 50-50 split with working girls, say sources. The madam’s generosity was one of the things that escort Lizzie most appreciated from her 44-year-old boss. [NYDN, Earlier: I'm a CEO, I'm building an empire]
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