A suburban mother of four rumored to be moonlighting as a multimillion-dollar madam was released from jail on Tuesday after she was sentenced to time served on a guilty plea in the sensational case.
Anna Gristina was sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation after pleading guilty to promoting prostitution as part of a deal in September.
The story made headlines when prosecutors said the 45-year-old Gristina boasted of having collected a roster of wealthy, well-placed clients and law enforcement connections during her 15 years in the business. After an investigation, it became clear she was simply running a brothel.
“We are left with a straight-forward promoting prostitution case — a defendant who ran a brothel for many years and who profited from the sex trade. That is all,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Charles Linehan said during the plea.
Gristina’s lawyers said their client lived on a 5 hectare property in Monroe, about 80km north of New York City, and rescued animals and helped abandoned pet pigs find new homes. She initially claimed to be running a dating service.
However, the Scotland native pleaded guilty to a single count of promoting prostitution, stemming from a tryst in July last year that authorities say she arranged involving two women and an undercover officer posing as a client named Anthony.
Manhattan District Attorney spokeswoman Erin Duggan said Gristina had no one to blame but herself.
“There is nothing glamorous about prostitution. Anna Gristina rented women’s bodies for profit, which makes her a pimp. That also makes her a felon and the court has now issued that judgment,” she said.
Despite the guilty plea, Gristina publicly claimed that she never crossed the line and instead blamed others charged in the case for turning on her.
Her family smiled and laughed outside court on Tuesday, glad the case was finished.
“It’s a sense of relief that it’s over, we can move on,” said Gristina’s husband, Kelvin Gorr. “This was in the best interest of the kids, just to start over and move on, and that’s it.”
Gristina, who plans to write a tell-all book, could be deported. Defense attorney Norman Pattis said he would fight any attempt to remove her from the country.
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