Trouble may not be over for Spitzer

The most likely charge Spitzer could face is structuring — breaking sums of money down into smaller amounts to hide the true purpose of the funds — but it is rarely brought as a stand-alone charge.

Lawyers said they are usually brought in money-laundering cases or as part of some larger criminal activity such as drug dealing.

Also, such cases usually involve hiding the source of the money. There is no reason to believe Spitzer, a millionaire many times over, used illegal funds to pay for anything.

Mann Act violation a stretch?
A Mann Act violation may be another stretch.

The law is not typically applied to buying sex from adult women, even if, according to court papers, the client identified as Spitzer by law enforcement officials managed to break almost every part of the law by arranging for the woman's train fare, hotel, right down to the mini-bar at the hotel. And do it all on tape for the listening feds, no less.

Prosecutors could also face trouble if Spitzer was the only one to be charged of the 10 clients named in the affidavit.

"If you charge a public figure under an obscure or rarely used legal theory, the critics will say the prosecution is politically motivated; if you decline to charge under the same circumstances, the critics will say the prosecutor is going easy on the would-be defendant because he or she is a prominent person," said Evan Barr, a lawyer who once prosecuted public corruption cases for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office.

But some say a structuring case might be the most likely scenario.

Miami-based lawyer Gregory Baldwin, an expert on structuring, said there is one basic principle to the crime — one that might still trip up Spitzer.

"A drug dealer, for example, is probably more concerned with hiding the source of his money. A terrorist, on the other hand, is probably more concerned with hiding the destination and purpose of his money," Baldwin said. "Whether its the source, destination, or purpose, though, the structurer ... always wants to avoid one thing: being identified as part of the transaction."

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