In the past few days, I've begun to atone for my private failings with my wife, Soda,

my children, and my entire family.

The remorse I feel will always be with me.

Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the love and compassion they have shown me.

From those to whom a much is given, much is expected.

I have been given much, the love of my family, the faith and trust of the people of New York,

and the chance to lead the state.

I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me.

To every New Yorker and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for, I sincerely

apologize.

On March 12, 2008, New York's Democratic Governor Elliot Spitzer resigned from office

in disgrace amid a prostitution scandal.

It was discovered that in the span of six months, Spitzer had hired escorts and at least seven

different occasions from an agency named Impers Club VIP, and he had paid a total of more

than $15,000 for their services.

Federal agents had begun monitoring Spitzer after a bank reported suspicious activity in the

governor's personal accounts.

Spitzer had attempted to transfer more than $10,000 to various and obvious offshore shell

corporations in a series of small transactions that would avoid detection.

The bank flagged the transfers anyway because they feared that Governor Spitzer was being

extorted by some kind of organized crime network.

But after an FBI surveillance campaign caught the governor with his pants down, it became

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