SPITZER DEATH THREAT TAPES
Cops probe threat to kill alleged ex-gal pal
A WOMAN who says she carried on a longtime affair with disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer told police she has the pervy pol on tape berating and threatening her, and the NYPD is investigating her allegation.
Svetlana Zakharova Travis and her attorney met with NYPD detectives Friday to discuss the 18-second recording, according to police sources and her lawyer.
Travis — who was accused of blackmailing Spitzer — found the clip after she was released from jail in October, her lawyer said.
In the sound snippet, a man — identified as Spitzer by Travis’ lawyer Joseph Murray — is heard slamming the 27-year-old Russian woman.
“You f---ing b----. You piece of s---. And then you f---ing destroy my life!” a man’s voice is heard seething.
“You know what’s going to happen to you? You’re going to be f--ing dead,” he went on.
“You’re going to die a slow painful death and your family is going to look at you and laugh because you’re a f---ing b----.”
Police sources say the expletive-laced phone call from February 2016 came to their attention about a week ago and they’re probing it as a possible aggravated harassment case.
“We met with these detectives today and they’ve assured us that we’ll receive a full and fair investigation,” Murray told the Daily News on Friday.
The nasty sound bite was recorded days after Travis reported that the prostitute-paying ex-politician choked her at the Plaza Hotel on Feb. 13, 2016, Murray said.
Authorities are now investigating the authenticity of the clip — from a speaker-phone chat — and the circumstances surrounding the recording.
The call allegedly transpired while Travis was in Russia.
Spitzer has repeatedly denied the claims and the Bronx District Attorney’s office — who took over the case when Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. recused himself — declined to bring charges in the alleged hotel assault.
After Travis reported the alleged manhandling, Spitzer told investigators Travis had been shaking him down for years. Travis was arrested for grand larceny in October 2016 and took a misdemeanor plea deal to settle the $400,000 case last October.
She did not have to admit to the Spitzer theft, though, only to attempting to swindle another man.
“This is a woman who has been extorting Mr. Spitzer and his family for years. The record in her criminal case speaks for itself,” Spitzer’s attorney Adam Kaufmann said.
Travis was pressured into signing a settlement agreement with Spitzer and agreed to “destroy any and all recordings of Mr. Spitzer,” according to court records.
The DA’s office “either took no steps to recover these recordings, or they intentionally failed to disclose them,” Murray said.
Spitzer resigned as governor in 2008 after being embroiled in a sex scandal.
Called “Client 9” in court papers, Spitzer was caught on a federal wiretap trying to arrange an assignation with a high-priced hooker.