NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – Parts of a previously sealed lawsuit against Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York, have been revealed and describe a violent confrontation in a hotel room with a woman from whom he demanded sex.
Svetlana Travis Zakharova sued Spitzer in December 2020 but her complaint stayed secret until New York County Supreme Court Justice Paul Goetz issued an order on Dec. 6 that unveiled a small part of it. Travis is representing herself in the matter.
Spitzer was the attorney general of New York before his election to governor in 2006. His reign lasted only 14 months, however, when it became known that he was a client of a prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP.
A letter Spitzer’s lawyer sent to Justice Goetz on Dec. 16 says Travis “launched this action as part of her effort to extract revenge against Mr. Spitzer, his family, and anyone remotely close to him after she was prosecuted and jailed for her extortive scheme against Mr. Spitzer and another record.”
“The filings have been replete with lies and fantastical claims,” the letter adds. “Many of the allegations leveled by Plaintiff were previously disclaimed by her, and all have been investigated and rejected by law enforcement. Yet this case persists.”
The only count left in Travis’ lawsuit is brought under the New York Victims of Gender Motivated Violence Protection Law. Years ago, Zakharova was charged with extortion, pleaded guilty to attempted petit larceny and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. She had threatened telling the media and Spitzer’s wife about her relationship with the former politician.
Her lawsuit says they were at The Plaza Hotel on Feb. 13, 2016, when Spitzer paid for a suite. There, she says, he demanded sex by screaming at her.
When she declined, he threw her on the bed and choked her, she claims. The suit says she escaped to the bathroom and called the police, but Spitzer told responding officers that everything was fine and asked them if they knew who he was.
“Defendant Spitzer threatened Plaintiff with physical harm and said, ‘I’ll kill you and your family if you report me to the police,’” the suit says.
Zakharova says she tried to commit suicide with a knife. Police came back to the room to find broken glass and bloodstains, the suit says.