Fordham Student Writing Memoir About Involvement in Spitzer Prostitution Scandal

Psych Major Received Six Months Jail Time for Running Emperor’s Club VIP Escort Service

By CASEY FELDMAN

Published: February 26, 2009

The Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) student, who was sentenced to six months in jail in late January for her involvement in the prostitution scandal that derailed former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, is now shopping around a memoir.

According to the Huffington Post, 24-year-old Cecil Suwal, who is studying psychology, plead guilty last year to money laundering, conspiracy and conspiring to promote prostitution.

The memoir will apparently detail her role as madam in the Emperor’s Club VIP, a $5,500-an-hour escort service.

It has been reported that Suwal, who became involved in the brothel when she was 18, said she did it to help pay for college.

Suwal helped run the Emperor’s Club with her 62-year-old boyfriend, Israeli widower Mark Brener. Suwal allegedly “opened bank accounts for shell businesses created to hide the true nature of the operation, paid prostitutes and arranged meetings with clients,” according to the New York Daily News.

Suwal’s lawyer said in court that Brener’s controlling behavior left Suwal unable to make her own decisions, but that Suwal has now “permanently severed the umbilical cord from Brener,” according to the Huffington Post.

Condé Nast Portfolio reported that Suwal has maintained a near-perfect GPA since she returned to Fordham after being released on bail in April. Her lawyer pointed out the fact that she did charity work, had “steady appropriate employment” and volunteered for a psychological evalution.

Prosecutors sought approximately two years of jail time, according to the Huffington Post, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Stein cited the fact that Suwal “devoted nearly four years of her life to promoting prostitution and helping herself and her co-conspirators profit from that activity” and that, “during that time, Suwal did no legitimate work and supported herself entirely through crime.”

The Huffington Post reported that the judge gave Suwal credit for “going to ‘extraordinary lengths to put her life back on track’ but said it could not erase the fact that she had played a central role in the escort service.”

At her sentencing, according to The Huffington Post, Suwal said, “It is my aim to prevent others, especially young girls, from making the kind of mistakes that I have made.”

Suwal and Brener ran the escort service out of a luxury apartment in Cliffside Park, NJ, according to reports. Suwal attended NJ preparatory school Blair Academy, and then attended the University of Miami for two years before meeting Brener.

Suwal’s lawyer did not return calls and Fordham representatives did not respond to requests for comment at press time.