New York Post

‘Spitzer’ threat: ‘You’re going to be dead’

Ex’s raging call from El

- By LARRY CELONA Additional reporting by David K. Li and Joe Tacopino

A Russian escort who once dated Eliot Spitzer now claims the former governor threatened to kill her in a expletive-laden phone call, sources said.

Svetlana Travis Zakharova and her lawyer, Joseph Murray, took an audio of the alleged phone call to NYPD detectives on Friday, claiming it shows Spitzer making the threats, law enforcemen­t sources said.

“You never helped me, you ruined my life,” Zakharova said.

That set off the man — who Zakharova insisted is Spitzer — on a tirade.

“You f--king bitch! You piece of sh-t. And then you f--king destroyed my life!” the man exploded.

“You know what’s going to happen to you? You’re going to be f--king dead.”

He continued: “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--king bitch.”

It was unclear whether the voice was Spitzer’s or whether the rage-filled tirade constitute­d a threat.

The phone call was made in February 2016, Zakharova’s lawyer said, shortly after the woman accused Spitzer of attacking her at The Plaza hotel.

Zakharova‘s lawyer is now looking to reopen the case that alleges Spitzer choked the woman during a ruckus at The Plaza.

The audio was brought to Bronx detectives who have jurisdicti­on over the case after Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., recused himself.

“We won’t rest until he’s locked up,” Murray told The Post,

Zakharova was exposed as Spitzer’s gal pal after cops responded to a call at The Plaza in 2016 and spotted broken glass and blood inside their hotel room.

Zakharova claimed Spitzer choked her, but prosecutor­s de- clined to bring charges.

Eventually, Zakharova was the one arrested for allegedly trying to shake down Spitzer for $400,000.

Zakharova pleaded guilty last October to a separate charge of attempted petit larceny for trying to steal rent money from an ex-lover.

In the deal, the charges that she tried to extort Spitzer were dropped.

When Zakharova copped the plea, her lawyer insisted she had been with Spitzer for an ex- tended period.

“She had a long-term relationsh­ip with him and to be accused of extorting him was absolutely not true, and she would never admit to that,” Murray said.

Spitzer resigned as governor in disgrace in 2008 after he was caught in a prostituti­on scandal where he was identified as the black socks-wearing “Client No. 9.”

A lawyer for Spitzer would not comment early Saturday morning.

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 ??  ?? PHONE FURY: Russian escort Svetlana Travis Zakharova claims disgraced Love Gov Eliot Spitzer spewed death threats in a call to her.
PHONE FURY: Russian escort Svetlana Travis Zakharova claims disgraced Love Gov Eliot Spitzer spewed death threats in a call to her.
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