Spitzer Accuser Is a Pricey Escort: Sources

The woman accusing Eliot Spitzer of assaulting her at the Plaza Hotel on Saturday is a $5,000-per-night escort, sources tell Inside Edition. She's been identified as Svetlana Travis, 25, and sources say she's the same "Svetlana Z" who wrote a Medium article in 2014 about having sex for money, to the tune of $5,000 a night. Spitzer hasn't been charged, and his alleged relationship with Travis is not clear. Sources tell the New York Daily News they were in a romantic relationship and the alleged attack happened after Spitzer got upset that Travis (original last name: Zakharova) wanted to return to her native Russia.

But a woman claiming to be Travis, who responded to the Daily News' emailed inquiry, denies that she's the same person who wrote the Medium article. She also says she was the one who hurt herself by trying to cut her wrists, and that Spitzer actually stopped her: "If I didn’t say Eliot started (it) all, I think I would be hospitalized in some mental home for a few months. I made up the story in order to not be hospitalized," she wrote, though she would not provide a photo to verify she is in fact Travis. Spitzer's lawyers acknowledge he knew Travis and even that he saw her Saturday, but say he did not hurt her, and they tell the New York Times she has apologized for fabricating the story and has flown back to Russia. (More Eliot Spitzer stories.)