Ex-‘Manhattan Madam’ Meets With Russia Investigators

Kristin Davis, a Manhattan woman renowned for running a high-end New York City escort service a decade ago, met on Wednesday with investigators from the office of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Davis, who was known for years in New York City’s tabloids as the Manhattan Madam, told The New York Times last month that she was contacted in late July by Mueller’s office, which was seeking to serve her a subpoena as part of its investigation into ties between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign. Davis said at the time that she had no idea what Mueller’s team wanted to know from her, insisting she did not believe it was related to her former prostitution business.

The subject of her interview this week with the special counsel’s office remained unclear, but one possible line of inquiry was her long association with Roger J. Stone Jr., a veteran political consultant and Trump adviser who has become a focal point for Mueller’s investigators. Stone, a self-described “dirty trickster” with a career in politics reaching back to the Nixon administration, was in contact with Guccifer 2.0, an online figure that Mueller’s team has said was controlled by Russian military intelligence officers. Guccifer 2.0 was instrumental in helping WikiLeaks distribute stolen emails and other internal political documents that proved damaging to Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid and to the Democratic Party.

“Kristin Davis is a longtime friend and associate of mine,” Stone said in a statement issued Friday afternoon. “She knows nothing about alleged Russian collusion, WikiLeaks or any other impropriety related to the 2016 election, which I thought was the subject of this probe.”

Stone said he believed Davis had appeared voluntarily at the special counsel interview and added he was “highly confident she will testify truthfully if called upon to do so.”

Daniel Hochheiser, a lawyer for Davis, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

In 2008, Davis, 43, said she furnished escorts to Eliot Spitzer, who resigned as the governor of New York that same year after The New York Times reported he had become ensnared by a federal investigation into a separate prostitution ring. Spitzer has denied any ties to Davis, who spent four months at Rikers Island for running her escort service.

Davis launched her own campaign for New York governor in 2010, hiring Stone as a strategist and promising to legalize marijuana and prostitution if elected. One of Stone’s close aides, Andrew Miller, worked as her campaign manager. Miller has been subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the Russia investigation.