The New York Times identifies the woman associated in a sex scandal with
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer as 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre.

SHOWS: NEW YORK CITY, UNITED STATES (MARCH 13, 2008) (REUTERS) - The New York Times on Thursday (March 13) identified the woman
alleged to be a high-priced call girl associated with former New York Governor
Eliot Spitzer. The newspaper identified her alias "Kristen" on the
front page, one day after Spitzer resigned as Governor after reports he paid
for 1,000 dollars-an-hour prostitute.
    The newspaper reported the prostitute was 22-year-old  Ashley Youmans,
who is known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre. It said Dupre left home in New Jersey
at 17 with hopes of  a music career in New York. Pictures of the young woman
were taken from her My Space page. 
    Dupre was likely to spend some time in the limelight, but Paul Farhi of
the  Washington Post said her fame would be short-lived.
    "We know, of course, that Monica Lewinsky wrote books, she gave
interviews that she was compensated for, she sold handbags. But it's a very
short-lived kind of fame and you could really call it infamy. That kind of
notoriety follows you around the rest of your life. Commercially, it's hard to
exploit after a while and people aren't that interested in you and I think
you're perceived as a kind of one-dimensional figure. The real question is
what happens to Eliot Spitzer's career. This guy was a brilliant lawyer, he
was a very good politician. Whether he is damaged permanently, I guess would
be the bigger question," he said.
    Spitzer, who came into office in 2007 promising to clean up state
politics, faces the possibility of federal criminal charges over how he may
have paid for prostitution services, specifically charges of structuring,
which entail payments made so as to conceal their purpose and source.
   Another violation may involve money laundering, if payments made to the
suspected prostitution ring's shell corporations are found to be part of a
larger conspiracy, legal experts said.
    Lieutenant Governor David Patterson, who took over from the former
governor, said Spitzer family were in his thoughts.
    "This has been a very sad few days in the history of New York and
for me it's been sadder. My heart goes out to Eliot Spitzer, his wife, three
daughters, his parents.  I know them all, they're friends of mine," he
said.
    When asked if he had ever used a prostitute, Patterson joked,
"only the lobbyists.  That's why we won campaign finance,
Jacob."
    Legal observers speculated Spitzer was seeking to reach a deal to avoid
or reduce any criminal liability before he left office. On Wednesday, though,
the top federal prosecutor in New York said there was no such deal.
    Prostitution is illegal in most U.S. states, but clients are rarely
prosecuted and he is unlikely to face such charges.
    But because he allegedly paid for the prostitute to travel to
Washington from New York, he may have violated the Mann Act that bans
interstate transport to engage in prostitution.