Kirstin Davis, comptroller candidate and ex-madam, charged with selling pills

August 6, 2013 By Tom Hays Associated Press

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A former madam running against former Gov. Eliot Spitzer in the race for New York City comptroller peddled hundreds of powerful painkillers and other prescription pills in exchange for Ecstasy and cash from a drug dealer wearing a wire, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Prosecutors made the accusation against Kristin Davis while announcing her arrest on charges of distributing and possessing a controlled substance.

Davis, 38, was to appear in court later Tuesday. Her attorney, Daniel Hochheiser, declined comment.

The long-shot Libertarian candidate, who has a previous conviction for promoting prostitution, has made news by claiming to have gotten call girls for Spitzer before a prostitution scandal forced him from office. But the claims have never been proven.

Davis got into the comptroller race before Spitzer, running on a platform to legalize and tax marijuana as a way to close potential city budget gaps. Other candidates include Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, also a Democrat, and Republican John Burnett, a former Wall Street executive.

According to a criminal complaint, Davis began buying Xanax, Adderall and Ecstasy from the unidentified drug dealer in 2009. She allegedly told the dealer that “she provided these drugs to others at house parties,” the complaint says.

In 2011, Davis asked the dealer if he would accept Adderall in exchange for Ecstasy, the complaint says. After that, they traded 240 Adderall pills for 120 Ecstasy tablets, it says.

Authorities arrested the dealer in December and he agreed as part of guilty plea to record his conversations with Davis, the complaint says. In a recorded meeting on Jan. 7, the cooperator paid Davis $675 in cash for 215 pills, it says.

“Ok, and this one is Ambien. There are 30 of those,” Davis allegedly said on tape.

Authorities also alleged that in April, Davis brokered a deal for another person to sell 180 oxycodone pills to the cooperator. The complaint references a video that shows Davis bringing the person to the dealer’s apartment, where the dealer used $3,600 provided by the FBI to make the purchase.

The Spitzer campaign declined comment on Tuesday.