Wall Street's booming "bare" market

FROM A READER COMES a Reuters report of the indictments Wednesday of 17 people charged with running a "high-end prostitution ring that catered to Wall Street clients." The customers reportedly spent as much as $10,000 a night. Despite the downside of the economy, the ring was prospering, said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. "The business of high-end prostitution is enormously profitable," he said, adding that clients often spent more than $10,000 in a single night.

And why not? The ring was called High Class NY and like some pharmacies and supermarkets was open for business 24 hours a day, which was quite considerate of clients who had to stay at the office after hours to help pay for their mischief. Fees ranged from $400 to $3,600 an hour for the ring's services. Hynes called the Wall Street clientele "all high-end customers coming from the financial markets. People with nothing but money." Still, we have to wonder about how the $3,600 sex investors figured to write off their high-end action as therapeutic business expenses.