'Millionaire Madam' Released on Lower Bail After Four Months in New York Jail - East Idaho News
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‘Millionaire Madam’ Released on Lower Bail After Four Months in New York Jail

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Getty 031212 MillionaireMadamRenderiStockphoto?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1340755171543iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A U.K.-born woman accused of orchestrating a prostitution business for high-powered clientele in Manhattan was released from jail Tuesday night after spending four months behind bars unable to make the $2 million bail.

Anna Gristina, 44, who earned the nickname the “Millionaire Madam” has gathered enough collateral to meet a reduced bail of $250,000. As part of the bail package, Gristina will be required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.

“Thank you, everybody,” Gristina told reporters on her exit from New York’s Criminal Court just after 9 p.m.

The D.A. did not object to the bail package for the New York mom, who has been in jail since her Feb. 22 arrest. Gristina’s bail was originally set at $2 million, an amount she said she could not afford.

Prosecutors had argued the accused madam would present a flight risk if released while she awaits trial on a charge of promoting prostitution in the third degree.

Gristina, who allegedly operated under the name Anna Scotland for 15 years, has long been adamant she was merely setting up a matchmaking service.

The service allegedly netted Gristina millions of dollars as attractive young women and wealthy men came and went from an unassuming brownstone on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Her list of clients allegedly included politicians, bankers, executives, top law enforcement officials, and other powerful individuals.

“I’m surprised there was a brothel next door,” Tony Kim, who owns Danny Boy’s Cleaners, told ABC News of the allegations. “I’ve never seen anything like people walking in and out during the day.”

The accused madam was allegedly caught on wiretaps and surveillance videos as part of a five-year investigation by the District Attorney’s Public Corruption Unit, which probes the conduct of law enforcement and other officials and whether they have been protecting Gristina’s alleged activities.

Prosecutors alleged at her arraignment that the tapes capture her bragging about how law enforcement sources promised to warn her if she were under suspicion, particularly during the time New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was revealed to be a client of an escort service that was shut down in 2009.

She was heard on wiretaps talking about a friend who is a prominent lawyer and the precautions he helped her take in the event of her arrest, according to prosecutors.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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