The woman who accused former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer of assault in February was arrested in the city Monday night, a law enforcement source said.
Svetlana Zakharova Travis, 25, was charged with grand larceny by extortion of Spitzer, police said. Zakharova had gone to Russia after making the assault accusations in February. She was arrested at the airport when she returned to New York, police said.
The woman was also charged with second-degree forgery in a separate case where she used a New Jersey man’s identity to sign a lease, police said.
Spitzer was not charged after the accusation in February.
Zakharova had said she and Spitzer got into a verbal argument that led to shoving in a room at the Plaza Hotel, sources said at the time.
Spitzer said the allegation was not true. In a statement, he had said Zakharova Travis was “emotional and was threatening self harm.”
He said it was only after she was taken for a psychiatric evaluation that she made the allegation of the assault.
She was treated for a cut to her wrist, but decided not to press charges. She later left the country.
With Newsday
