Russian prostitute who accused disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer of choking her in a hotel room is arrested for 'blackmailing him'

• e-mail

The $5,000-a-night Russian prostitute who accused shamed ex-New York governor Eliot Spitzer of choking her in a hotel room has been arrested on blackmail charges.

Svetlana Zakharova Travis, 25, told NYPD detectives that Spitzer, 57, had assaulted her during a heated row in a $1,000 suite at The Plaza Hotel in February after she revealed plans to return to Moscow.

The escort and model then went back to her native Russia, hindering the police investigation into the alleged attack.

But she was arrested and charged with grand larceny by extortion when she returned to New York on Monday for allegedly trying to extort Spitzer out of $50,000.

Arrested: Svetlana Travis, 25, was arrested in New York on a grand felony charge after allegedly trying to blackmail ex-NY governor and former squeeze Eliot Spitzer out of $50,000

'Victim': Spitzer said in a civil suit that Travis made him pay so she wouldn't tell about their trysts, and that she accused him of choking her in Feb as revenge for him cutting ties with her

She also was charged with forgery in an unrelated case in which police said she used a 67-year-old Bloomfield, New Jersey man's information and signed a lease agreement that ended up costing him $18,000. 

Police have not confirmed how much Travis was allegedly trying to extort from him, but reports suggest she was trying to shake him down for $50,000.

It was not immediately known if she has an attorney who can comment on the charges. She is due to appear at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday. 

Spitzer, who resigned as governor in 2008 after he was accused of wiring more than $10,000 to an elite escort service, had admitted to a 'relationship' with Travis in a lawsuit filed in July.

That suit said Spitzer had paid money to stop Travis from making their 'trysts' public, and that her claims of assault were made against him in revenge for him cutting ties with her.

Dropped: He dropped the lawsuit last month, but the NYPD arrested her when she landed in New York on Monday after flying in from Russia. She had fled there after making the choking claim in February

Spitzer's representatives told in September that he had withdrawn the claims, 'without prejudice and without costs to either party as against the other.'

But the closure of that civil suit apparently meant little to the NYPD, who picked up Travis and hit her with the charges. 

Spitzer's suit claimed that Travis had 'demanded' a meeting with him on February 13, during a stopover while travelling from her home in California to Russia.

It said that she 'became enraged when [he] told her that he did not wish to maintain any relationship with her, that he did not intend to give her more property, and that he intended to end all contact.'

Travis called police and told them she had cut herself and was having a breakdown, Spitzer's attorney, Adam Kaufmann, said in February. 

Spitzer was present while police arrived, Kaufmann said, and 'sought to keep her calm.'

When police arrived they noticed a cut on her arm and a broken glass, and took her to hospital. There she told staff that Spitzer had choked her and shoved her after she told him of her plan to return to Russia.

But she refused to co-operate with police and flew to Russia later that night.

Spitzer is no stranger to controversy. The multi-millionaire son of real-estate tycoon Bernard Spitzer, he made a name for himself as a lawyer focusing on corrupt financiers.

'Fraud': Travis was also arrested on a separate forgery charge after allegedly signing a lease that resulted in a New Jersey man being billed for $18,000

The one-time 'Sheriff of Wall Street' was even considered presidential material, and became 57th governor of New York in 2007.

But he was forced to quit the following year after it was reported that he had at least seven meetings with high-end prostitutes over a six-month period and may have spent up to $80,000 on hookers over many years. 

Infamous as Client 9 of the Emperors Club VIP call-girl ring, he resigned at a public press conference along with his wife Silda, who chose to stand by him.

He then tried to rehabilitate his public image with a stint as a CNN presenter before returning to work for his father, who died last year, leaving him $16million.

Controversy: Spitzer, formerly a celebrated lawyer, spent just a year as governor of New York before quitting in 2008 after it emerged that he may have spent up to $80,000 on hookers

An affair with spin doctor Lis Smith in December 2013 is believed to have been the cause of his marriage's collapse in 2014. 

Silda walked away with $7.5million, $240,000-a-year for life, and the couple's luxury Fifth Avenue apartment.

Travis wrote an article about her experience as a prostitute for Medium in October 2014 titled 'Sex is Sex. But Money is Money' in which she describes herself as a 'businesswoman'.

'I did what politicians in this country are always encouraging immigrants to do: work hard, seize opportunity, maximize your talents,' she said in the article, which is attributed to 'Svetlana Z.'

In the piece, she boasts that she arrived in New York with just $300, but became successful after building a stable of clients. 

'I turned 24 in March and have managed to save $200,000 by f***ing for money,' she wrote. 

Businesswoman: Travis claims that she came to New York with just $300, but managed to make $200,000 by working as a prostitute