This morning’s New York Post is reporting that New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has launched an investigation into the shady $875,000 loan from Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club to Air America.

Spitzer’s inquiry is focusing on the conduct of Gloria Wise’s board of directors. “The question is: Was their action appropriate?,” Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp told the Post.

That focus probably makes sense given Spitzer’s oversight of charities in the state, but it doesn’t necessarily mean Air America is off the hook. One of Air America’s former officers, Evan Cohen, has been accused of embezzling the loan money. Air America’s current managers did not proactively disclose the questionable loan to law enforcement officials despite having known about it for more than a year. Air America still hasn’t said whether Cohen stole the money or relayed it to the network’s coffers.

The New York Post article also reports that Air America has begun repaying the loan, but is not complying with a recommendation by the city’s Department of Investigations regarding how it should be repaid:

The first payment of $50,000 was made yesterday, and it was deposited into an escrow account controlled by Air America’s lawyer.

That unsettled city investigators, who had recommended that the entire $875,000 be placed into an escrow account that no one could touch without their approval.

Hugh Hewitt has been pursuing the nonprofit angle for more than a week. In one post, he presciently asked, “Where is [Eliot] Spitzer[?]”

According to Bore America’s scandal clock, it has now been 10 days since the story first broke. “Air America” is currently the fifth most frequently searched term at Technorati. How much longer will Air America’s cheerleaders at the New York Times remain silent?

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Previous:
Air Enron: questions, questions
Air Enron: the blame game
Air Enron: thumb-twiddling MSM
Silence of the race hustlers
Air Enron: Al Franken speaks
Air Deadbeat: the saga continues
The Air America loophole
Air America is scrambling
Air America: Don’t blame us
Air America: Stealing from poor kids?!

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Related:
- Say Anything, Air America Bumper Sticker Contest
- Brian Maloney, Air America’s ‘Deep Throat’ (scroll down for coverage of Bill Press’s conflict of interest)
- Brian Maloney, Terms Please! (on Air America’s repayment plan)
- Ed Morrissey, Air America: losing interest? (on the news that Piquant LLC won’t be paying interest on the Gloria Wise loan)
- MachoNachos, The media catches on in… Arizona?
- Brainster’s Blog, Update on Air America! (catches the Seattle Weekly misreporting the timing of RealNetworks executive Rob Glaser’s involvement)
- Patterico, “I just can’t bring myself to care.” (See comment #2 for my response.)
- Via reader Bill Faith, Cox & Forkum nail it:

Update, 2:59 pm, other bloggers react to the Post article:
- Brian Maloney, Air America repays itself?
- Ed Morrissey, Air America: Spitzer’s Difference
- Sister Told Jah!, MSM pushing back against the blogosphere?

John in Carolina asks Al Franken to invite me on his show to dicsuss the loan. (Fat chance.)

Anyone think Franken will talk about the loan in his next book?

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