Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.
'Client 9' Filmmaker Focuses On Spitzer's Foes
Listen
38:24
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.
"The only deal that we made was that if we discovered anything that was new, that hadn't been known before, we would share it with him," Gibney explains. "It took us a long time to get though the door. ... But I think over time, we were able to make a pretty good argument to him that in order for him to move forward, he would have to reckon with the past. And I think he knew that we were going to do the story anyway, and he wanted to have his say."
Gibney has directed documentaries about Jack Abramoff, the Enron scandal and the lives of Jimi Hendrix and Hunter S. Thompson. He won an Academy Award for his 2007 documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, about abuses in the war on terror.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. 9(MDA1OTI3MjQ5MDEyODUwMTE2MzM1YzNmZA004))
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
