Earlier this month, Upper East Side mom Anna Gristina was arrested and charged with running a high end brothel catering to "powerful men." So who were those powerful men? The first big name has leaked, and it is... utterly unsurprising.

John Edwards, the guy who cheated on his wife when she had terminal cancer, was a client of the brothel, according to a report from DNA Info's Murray Weiss. Weiss's sources say that Edwards met up with the hooker in 2007 during his presidential campaign, on a trip to NYC. Furthermore, he says, the police have known for years:

The one-night fling allegedly took place at an Upper East Side hotel suite and was arranged by an aide with help from a New Yorker familiar with Gristina's prostitution ring, sources said

The prostitute claiming to have slept with Edwards provided a detailed, first-hand account of their encounter to investigators in the Manhattan District Attorney's office in 2008 after they began probing Gristina's operation, sources said... Investigators found the woman credible, but never notified federal authorities, seeing no reason to involve the feds in a low-level local infraction, sources told DNAinfo.

They could have at least notified the media. Anyhow, it's somewhat disappointing that it was the first guy you would imagine, allegedly, but Weiss says that there are more high-powered names on the client list yet to come out, so this should be fun.

I guess the lesson is, prostitution should be legal, and don't vote for John Edwards, ever again.

[DNA Info. Photo: AP]