Several people involved in the campaign said on Thursday that they did not believe campaign money had been misused. Jonathan Rosen, a spokesman for Spitzer 2010, the governor’s campaign committee, and the Excelsior Committee, his political action committee, said neither organisation had received subpoenas from federal authorities.

One of Spitzer’s lawyers, Michele Hirshman, did not respond to requests for comment.

A person briefed on the inquiry said on Thursday that investigators pursuing the case discovered something last fall that raised suspicions that Spitzer may have used campaign money to pay for transportation or hotel rooms for trysts with prostitutes.

It was not clear what two other trips investigators had requested records for from the campaign. Earlier this week, a person with knowledge of the escort service’s operations said that Spitzer had had an encounter with a prostitute in Dallas, and a law enforcement official said another prostitute had met with Spitzer in Florida during the past several months.

Two people briefed on the investigation said that one of the money laundering laws that prosecutors are trying to determine whether Spitzer broke prohibits “the intent to promote the carrying on of the specified unlawful activity.”

Charles H Grice, a banking expert, said that statute was hardly ever used. “This is extremely arcane stuff,” he said.

A friend of Spitzer’s, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reacted with fury at the news that prosecutors appeared to be widening their inquiry to include money spent on campaign trips that may have involved trysts with prostitutes.

... contd.