The Hockey Mom Madam is taking a plea deal.
Anna Gristina accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to a single count of promoting prostitution, courthouse sources have told The Post.
Under the terms of the deal Gristina will be either be sentenced to six months in prison, which will essentially amount to time served.
"Your honor, I would gratefully like to accept the plea," Gristina said in a Manhattan court on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Charles Linehan said that they were unable to mount much more of a case against Gristina, who allegedly had connections to the city, state and federal government as well as links to officials in the NYPD, FBI and governor's office.
Steven Hirsch
Anna Gristina.
"We have not found any evidence to support any of these claims," Linehan said.
Gristina did not enter the negotiations dead-set on taking the deal that was offered.
"I’m going in to listen to what they have to say, but I haven’t made up my mind. It will depend on the terms, and what, if anymore jail time they are asking for, ” Gristina told The Post. “I’ll listen, but I am not going to go against my gut. I am still prepared to go to trial and that could be what I decided to do..”
She had faced a maximum of up to seven years prison if convicted at a trial that had been scheduled for next month -- during which she would be confronted with incriminating testimony from a bevy of three of her gorgeous alleged former escort service workers. Sources have told The Post that Gristina the risk was strong that she would have received that maximum sentence if convicted.
A plea deprives New York of what promised to be a sensational trial, offering salacious details and a rare glimpse into what the Manhattan District Attorney claims was a multi-million dollar prostitution ring catering to some of the richest men in the world.
Gristina has until now steadfastly maintained she ran nothing more than a high-end matchmaking service, hooking up wealthy clients with beautiful single women.
She has previously refused, flat-out, to entertain a plea deal, saying she preferred to roll the dice with a jury trial that was slated to start next month.
But in recent weeks Gristina has been wavering, as prosecutors pushed her to rat out just one man, whom she will not identify.
“The only reason I’d take a plea is because I don’t want to turn on a friend,” she told The Post earlier this month. “So that nobody else gets hurt, no other families get destroyed. I would do it for my family and friends.”
The sole charge against Gristina is that she and accused fellow madam Jaynie Mae Baker brokered a two-hooker sex show for an undercover cop posing as a client, or, as her lawyer, Norman Pattis has called it, “a $2,000 peep show for a cop on the taxpayer’s dime.”
It is not clear whether the Scotland-born Gristina would face deportation under a plea. Deportation had been a near certainty if she had gone to trial and lost.
Gristina was arrested in February to much fanfare, with prosecutors claiming she ran a big bucks hooker ring out of an Upper East Side apartment. They claimed that a five year probe by the DA’s public corruption unit turned up hundreds of hours of wiretaps, and that the well-connected Gristina laundered millions, boasted ties to top officials and law enforcement, and had minors involved in her operation.
As the months dragged on, the case seemed to lose steam.
No high-placed pals were identified or arrested -- despite investigators’ early demands that Gristina give information on alleged clients that included a real estate tycoon with connections to a pro sports team, a socially- and politically-connected developer and a prominent international banker, among others.
Gristina has never been indicted for laundering those alleged millions, despite five-plus years of cooperation by her accused money launderer, Jonas Gayer and a raid on the downtown office of Manhattan lawyer and business associate David Jaroslawicz.
Alleged co-madam Baker and accused hookers Katherine DeVries and Mhariangela “Moz” Bottone cut deals early on and stayed out of jail.
Gristina spent four months on Rikers Island, with judge Merchan refusing repeated applications to lower her sky-high $2 million bail. She was finally freed in June after an appeals court granted a bail reduction.
At an August hearing -- after lead prosecutor Charles Linehan said he might seek to introduce testimony and wire tap evidence “about other incidents not covered in the indictment” -- Merchan sternly warned that the one-week trial would be limited to the “very narrow issue” of the promoting prostitution charge.
By September, prosecutors had set their sights on Gristina spilling the beans on a single individual who is neither a city official nor in law enforcement.
“They have an agenda to get me to talk about a certain person,” Gristina told talk show shrink Dr. Phil in an interview earlier this month.
"I’m not going to put the nail in the coffin.”
Anna Gristina accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to a single count of promoting prostitution, courthouse sources have told The Post.
Under the terms of the deal Gristina will be either be sentenced to six months in prison, which will essentially amount to time served.
"Your honor, I would gratefully like to accept the plea," Gristina said in a Manhattan court on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Charles Linehan said that they were unable to mount much more of a case against Gristina, who allegedly had connections to the city, state and federal government as well as links to officials in the NYPD, FBI and governor's office.
Anna Gristina.
"We have not found any evidence to support any of these claims," Linehan said.
Gristina did not enter the negotiations dead-set on taking the deal that was offered.
"I’m going in to listen to what they have to say, but I haven’t made up my mind. It will depend on the terms, and what, if anymore jail time they are asking for, ” Gristina told The Post. “I’ll listen, but I am not going to go against my gut. I am still prepared to go to trial and that could be what I decided to do..”
She had faced a maximum of up to seven years prison if convicted at a trial that had been scheduled for next month -- during which she would be confronted with incriminating testimony from a bevy of three of her gorgeous alleged former escort service workers. Sources have told The Post that Gristina the risk was strong that she would have received that maximum sentence if convicted.
A plea deprives New York of what promised to be a sensational trial, offering salacious details and a rare glimpse into what the Manhattan District Attorney claims was a multi-million dollar prostitution ring catering to some of the richest men in the world.
Gristina has until now steadfastly maintained she ran nothing more than a high-end matchmaking service, hooking up wealthy clients with beautiful single women.
She has previously refused, flat-out, to entertain a plea deal, saying she preferred to roll the dice with a jury trial that was slated to start next month.
But in recent weeks Gristina has been wavering, as prosecutors pushed her to rat out just one man, whom she will not identify.
“The only reason I’d take a plea is because I don’t want to turn on a friend,” she told The Post earlier this month. “So that nobody else gets hurt, no other families get destroyed. I would do it for my family and friends.”
The sole charge against Gristina is that she and accused fellow madam Jaynie Mae Baker brokered a two-hooker sex show for an undercover cop posing as a client, or, as her lawyer, Norman Pattis has called it, “a $2,000 peep show for a cop on the taxpayer’s dime.”
It is not clear whether the Scotland-born Gristina would face deportation under a plea. Deportation had been a near certainty if she had gone to trial and lost.
Gristina was arrested in February to much fanfare, with prosecutors claiming she ran a big bucks hooker ring out of an Upper East Side apartment. They claimed that a five year probe by the DA’s public corruption unit turned up hundreds of hours of wiretaps, and that the well-connected Gristina laundered millions, boasted ties to top officials and law enforcement, and had minors involved in her operation.
As the months dragged on, the case seemed to lose steam.
No high-placed pals were identified or arrested -- despite investigators’ early demands that Gristina give information on alleged clients that included a real estate tycoon with connections to a pro sports team, a socially- and politically-connected developer and a prominent international banker, among others.
Gristina has never been indicted for laundering those alleged millions, despite five-plus years of cooperation by her accused money launderer, Jonas Gayer and a raid on the downtown office of Manhattan lawyer and business associate David Jaroslawicz.
Alleged co-madam Baker and accused hookers Katherine DeVries and Mhariangela “Moz” Bottone cut deals early on and stayed out of jail.
Gristina spent four months on Rikers Island, with judge Merchan refusing repeated applications to lower her sky-high $2 million bail. She was finally freed in June after an appeals court granted a bail reduction.
At an August hearing -- after lead prosecutor Charles Linehan said he might seek to introduce testimony and wire tap evidence “about other incidents not covered in the indictment” -- Merchan sternly warned that the one-week trial would be limited to the “very narrow issue” of the promoting prostitution charge.
By September, prosecutors had set their sights on Gristina spilling the beans on a single individual who is neither a city official nor in law enforcement.
“They have an agenda to get me to talk about a certain person,” Gristina told talk show shrink Dr. Phil in an interview earlier this month.
"I’m not going to put the nail in the coffin.”