Manhattan madam? I’m just hard-up mom

A SCOTTISH mother accused of being in charge of a brothel in America has vowed to “bite off her tongue” before telling investigators anything.

Anna Gristina, 44 was arrested on suspicion of supplying £1,500-a-time prostitutes to wealthy clients in New York.

Gristina claims prosecutors showed her a list of ten high-profile men and demanded she name her alleged clients.

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But, speaking from jail, the mother-of-four has claimed she refused to be broken by investigating officials.

Gristina, who was raised by adoptive parents in Kirkliston near Edinburgh and is currently being held on Rikers Island, New York’s main jail complex, admitted recognising about half of the men on the list but said they were either friends or business associates.

In an interview with the New York Post, she said: “The ones I knew were people I’ve known for a long time who are in politics, investing and real estate.

“It amounted to ‘Tell us what we want, and we’ll let you go’. I’d bite my tongue off before I’d tell them anything.”

Gristina is said to have supplied under-age girls to clients at her Fleur d’Elite brothel in Manhattan for 15 years.

She is currently being held in custody with bail set at £1.3 million amid fears she poses a flight risk.

The expat appeared at the State Supreme Court on Wednesday charged with promoting prostitution.

Gristina – who lives with her third husband Kelvin Gorr and her family in secluded Monroe, north of New York – is alleged to have been taped boasting of how she has made millions from wealthy clients, including leading lawyers and politicians. Investigators also allegedly heard her bragging about having police protection.

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A “little black book” is said to contain names of undercover New York police officers and a senior Wall Street figure.

Gristina did admit to boasting in phone calls about people she knew in high places.

She added: “I know people. It’s like a politician. You say things to make yourself sound better.”

She also admitted meeting Morgan Stanley financial adviser David Walker on the day she was arrested.

The investment giant placed Mr Walker on paid leave after he was linked to Gristina.

He has not been charged with any crime.

Gristina claimed the meeting was to discuss a “totally legitimate” online matching service for wealthy men and women.

She also talked about her co-defendant in the prostitution ring, Jaynie Baker, who has yet to be arrested. Gristina said: “She just found that she’s a supposed fugitive. She’s a professional matchmaker – that’s what she’s doing for me.

“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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Gristina is alleged to have amassed up to $10 million (£6.4m) from her venture. It is claimed she took 40 per cent of what those women working for her made.

She has admitted making millions but “for other people” – helping out friends with real estate and other ventures.

Gristina has pleaded not guilty to promoting prostitution. She has been placed in solitary confinement on Rikers Island.

She went on: “This is not about me, it’s bigger than me.

“They’re trying to sweat me out. They are clearly trying to break me.”

The self-described “hockey mom” and real-estate developer claimed to be in the dark as to why prosecutors were “digging up dirt” on the men they showed her.

Asked whether prosecutors’ claims that she trafficked under-age girls were true, she said: “Absolutely not.”

She claimed she found it hard to make ends meet despite making a fortune.

Gristina claimed any spare money she did have went towards her family and animal rescue efforts.

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She said: “They say I’ve made millions for years, and I have – for other people.

“I’ve been struggling to pay the tuition to keep my daughter in college. Our utilities are always on the verge of being shut off. I can show you the bills.

“We live very much a simple life.”

Recalling her arrest and interrogation, Gristina said: “I kept asking for a lawyer. And they’d leave, send someone else in to try to get me to talk. And we’d do it all over again.

“I got the impression they were trying to make a case, but they didn’t really know what it was. You know what it was? It was fishing.”

After her arrest, Gristina was taken to Rikers Island and was initially placed on suicide watch.

She recalled: “I met with the doctor. He asked me if I was depressed or suicidal, and I sort of laughed at him. I told him ‘No’.

“He asked if I thought anyone was out to get me. I told him, ‘Well, the District Attorney just had me arrested – let’s take it from there’.”

Gristina was later placed in solitary confinement – in a large room about 150ft-long – where she is constantly monitored.

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Even when she sleeps, rotating shifts of three guards at a time ensure she is safe.

Gristina told how temperatures regularly soar to over 100 degrees, adding: “Picture an old military barracks, with plastic mattresses and rusty springs – I’m in there by myself. It’s a whole room.

“We are all sweating. It smells like cat urine.

“It’s just deplorable. It’s not a normal Rikers cell.”

Gristina said the warders were all “being extremely nice to me, very professional”.

She was forced to choke back tears when she talked about her four children.

Her youngest, a nine-year-old boy, initially thought she was dead when she didn’t come home.

Gristina added: “He knows now that’s not true, but it’s just really hard.

“I just don’t want my kids to see me in here.”

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