Accused Madam Didn't Sit Through Countless Meetings Discussing Capital Markets Strategy To Be Treated Like Some Common Pimp
Remember Anna Gristina/Scotland? To recap, she's the entrepreneur we were introduced to yesterday whose business hit a bit of a stumbling block when she was arrested by the Manhattan DA and charged with "promoting prostitution" out of her firm's global headquarters, a whorehouse on East 78th Street. Gristina/Scotland is currently on Riker's Island having been unable to post bail, set at $2 million, but prior to all this going down, she was just a (self-described) CEO with big plans and an outlook not so different from her colleagues in the business world. Before being nailed as part of a 5-year investigation, a typical day for Anna included:
- Cursing her commute: "She hated coming to the city," a friend told the Post.
- Reminding people she was running a Fortune 500 company here: She bragged to her old friends back in Scotland that she was “building an empire." “I’m a CEO,” she wrote to one pal from her early days in the ancient village of Kirkliston. “Takes a lot of work,” she told another.
- Meeting with colleagues to discuss expansion plans, financing options, and potential IPO timeline: On the morning she was arrested, Gristina/Scotland was "with a friend and Morgan Stanley employee, having been to his office for a meeting to try to raise money to finance what prosecutors believe may be an online prostitution business." (Anna's lawyers argue she "was setting up a legal dating business, hoping to rival online titan Match.com.")
- Bitching about Obama and how the guy's adolescent perspective of carried interest was going to screw her over: “Hoping to survive Obama,” she said in 2008. “Obama wants people like me to support the rest of America by taxing me more than I am already.”
Dig a little deeper and you'll presumably also find Gristina/Scotland conducted quarterly earnings calls with investors, used all kinds of financial metrics to measure performance of her hooker employees, plotted acquisitions, and tried to cut costs while expanding her global footprint. Basically, she was building a multi-billion dollar company to rival the Apples and Goldman Sachses of the world. If she were to release a statement this afternoon it would be, "I am a businesswoman. These are my employees. This is a business. Stop fucking with the GDP." And if her lawyer hasn't yet drafted his closing argument, perhaps he'll consider something à la: "It is a well-known FACT that prostitution is the world's oldest profession. PROFESSION. Let that word swish around in your glass. Defense rests."
UES madam had millionaire clients, led life of suburban mom [NYP]
Anna Gristina: Suburban mom or high-rolling madam? [AP]
Suspected Manhattan madam Anna Gristina bragged to old friends in Scotland that she was 'building an empire' [NYDN]
Earlier: Manhattan DA Pumps The Brakes On Mom/Madam’s Brothel Just As It Was About To Really Take Off With The Help Of Her Contacts In The Business World