Net widens in case of the 'Manhattan madam' as police arrest 'two prostitutes and money launderer'
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The case of the alleged 'Manhattan madam' has taken another twist after it emerged that three other people had been arrested in the investigation of a supposed prostitution ring.
Two of the people arrested are alleged to have been high-class call girls, while the third is accused of helping alleged mastermind Anna Gristina launder money.
Those three arrests happened weeks ago - in one case, more than a year ago - but they became the latest sign of the scope of the case after the New York Post reported them on Friday.
In the dock: Alleged madam Anna Gristina appears in court in New York with her attorney
Accomplices: Jaynie Baker and Jonas Gayer are accused of helping Gristina's alleged prostitution business
Meanwhile, investigators searched the office of a lawyer connected to the suburban home where alleged madam Gristina lives.
Prosecutors say Gristina, 44, set up a rendezvous for rich clients for 15 years and was heard bragging that she had connections in law enforcement.
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ShareGristina, a former real estate broker and mother of four, and co-defendant Jaynie Baker have pleaded not guilty to a single charge of promoting prostitution.
Their lawyers have said the two were working on starting a dating service, not selling sex.
'It's becoming more and more apparent to me that this case is much more than this one charge against my client,' Gristina's lawyer, Gary Greenwald, said on Friday.
Defence: Baker appeared in court on Tuesday with her attorney on a single charge of promoting prostitution
The two women charged with prostitution, Mhairiangelo Bottone and Catherine DeVries, were arrested in recent weeks and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge.
Bottone and DeVries were released without bail after their lawyers said they were willing to meet with prosecutors, court records and transcripts show.
Bottone's lawyer, Carlos M. Carvajal, said her client was an interior designer who had met Gristina several years ago at a networking event Gristina hosted.
She is 'suffering collateral damage from the larger investigation,' Mr Carvajal said. He said he hoped 'to get this resolved quickly for her' but declined to discuss any conversations she has had with prosecutors.
Meanwhile, it became clear that at least one person — the man accused of laundering money, named Jonas Gayer but identified in court papers only as John Doe — has been facing charges for two years or more, according to court records.
During a hearing last month on his case — though most of it was devoted to discussing search warrants for Gristina's home and the Manhattan apartment where the trysts allegedly happened — a prosecutor said the man was 'doing well and has been in touch with us.'
Gayer told the Post he did not know Gristina and Baker, and claimed he was Facebook friends with them through a common acquaintance.
Raunchy: Gristina posing in explicit online pictures with her husband
Investigators searched Manhattan lawyer David Jaroslawicz's office on Friday, according to a person familiar with the case.
Jaroslawicz is involved in a corporate entity that owns the home where Gristina lives in Monroe, New York, according to property records.
A lawyer representing him would say only that prosecutors have told him that Jaroslawicz is not a target of their investigation.
It recently emerged that alleged accomplice Baker once tried to break into professional wrestling and has even tried her hand at stand-up comedy.
Since her appearance in court this week on charges of promoting prostitution, video footage has emerged of the Southern belle, who now lives in Brooklyn, performing a graphic comedy routine in January.
Speaking from Rikers Island prison last week, Scottish-born Gristina said Baker worked for her as a legitimate matchmaker and is innocent of any crime.
Mother-of-four Gristina is accused of having made between $10million and $15million that she has 'squirreled away'.
She denies a single charge of promoting prostitution and believes the police are trying to force a case rather than having anything concrete on her.
Earlier this week, she told the Post: 'If I’m such a big, high-profile madam, making all this money, and they had to investigate me for five years, why did they arrest me on a single promoting-prostitution charge - and only after I refused to talk to them?'
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