[Illustration by ALEX FINE]
FRESH AIR 
Before a prostitution scandal ended his political career, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was a crusading prosecutor known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street.” As New York’s attorney general, he targeted corruption and shady business practices at some of the biggest financial institutions in the country. Filmmaker Alex Gibney’s new documentary, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, suggests that Spitzer’s demise wasn’t just about sex — that the many enemies Spitzer made on Wall Street and in the New York state capital at Albany may have contributed to his political demise. “It’s hard to imagine that he didn’t think he would get caught in some way,” Gibney tells Fresh Air‘s Dave Davies. “He knew very clearly that he had some very, very powerful enemies who wanted him to fall — and [paying for sex] was courting danger in the most extreme way possible.” Gibney interviewed several of Spitzer’s adversaries for the film, as well as the woman who provided Spitzer with sexual partners and Spitzer himself. He says that the production team didn’t shy away from anything during their interview with the former governor.
PREVIOUSLY: Was The Spitzer Probe The Ultimate Fed Take Down Of A Dem Whistleblower?