Jason Itzler is an American businessman, former pimp, and convicted criminal.
Itzler was born Jason Lubbell Sylk on February 23, 1967. In the 1990's he ran a phone sex business in Florida, M2 Communications, Inc. He was convicted in 2003 of trying to smuggle the drug Ecstasy into Newark Liberty International Airport from Amsterdam. From 2003 to 2004, he ran the New York escort agency "NY Confidential" for wealthy clients. In 2005, Itzler was convicted of money laundering and promoting prostitution, and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Itzler later claimed that Ashley Alexandra Dupré, the call girl connected to the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, had previously been an escort with "NY Confidential".
In September 2011, he was arrested and accused of providing a prostitute and $4,700 worth of cocaine to a customer for three days at the Trump International Hotel at Columbus Circle. He was incarcerated on $500,000 bail (then reduced to $200,000) pending trial. He retained Mark Heller who represented the Son of Sam serial killer David Berkowitz with a promise of payment from future earnings from a film that may be made about his life by Polsky Films.
In April 2012, Heller negotiated a deal with prosecutors for a four years sentence, however, on May 8, 2012, Itzler went before Justice Thomas Farber felt that Heller coerced him into agreeing to pay $420,000 for representing him. Judge Farbeer told Itzler calmly, “you don’t have a penny to your name at this point,” however, Itzler is purportedly supposed to receive the money if a film is made about his life from Polsky Films. He then announced that wanted to fire Heller because he had read a 2010 profile of Heller and realized that he had been wrongly treated. “I don’t trust Heller!” Itzler shouted. “Heller to me is the Devil!”
Justice Farber said Heller had negotiated “an extraordinarily generous offer” for Itzler. The judge, nonetheless, allowed Itzler to fire Heller and hire a new lawyer, Michael Marley, a former sports columnist for The New York Post and a publicist for the boxing promoter Don King.
On May 14, 2012, Itzler was sentenced to four years in prison for promoting prostitution, money laundering and drug charges, but not before he called for the legalization of prostitution. "In Nevada, the saying is, 'If it doesn't scare the horses, who cares?'" he told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber before being led away in his handcuffs and black velvet jacket. "I predict here and now that eight years from now, in the year 2020, New York and other enlightened states will decriminalize the world's oldest profession, namely prostitution," he said, ending his statement with, "And I'd like to give a shout-out to Billy Ray Cyrus!" Itzler had mistakenly believed that the alleged john in the case -- a Pennsylvania man who paid Itzler $19,500 for a cocaine and hooker binge at the Trump International Hotel last year -- was country singer Billy Ray Cyrus using an alias.