IRS Was First on Spitzer's Trail

The investigation that led to New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's troubles began not with prosecutors, not with the FBI, but with investigators in the Hauppauge, N.Y., offices of the IRS. Writes William K. Rashbaum in the New York Times:

The rendezvous that established Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s involvement with high-priced prostitutes occurred last month in one of Washington’s grandest hotels, but the criminal investigation that discovered the tryst began last year in a nondescript office building opposite a Dunkin’ Donuts on Long Island, according to law enforcement officials.

There, in the Hauppauge offices of the Internal Revenue Service, investigators conducting a routine examination of suspicious financial transactions reported to them by banks found several unusual movements of cash involving the governor of New York, several officials said.

The investigators working out of the three-story office building, which faces Veterans Highway, typically review such reports, the officials said. But this was not typical: transactions by a governor who appeared to be trying to conceal the source, destination or purpose of the movement of thousands of dollars in cash, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

And people say IRS work isn't glamorous.

Revelations Began in Routine Tax Inquiry [NY Times]