New York’s Democratic Gov. Elitot Spitzer has told his top aides that he was involved in a Washington, D.C., prostitution ring that is under investigation by federal prosecutors:

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning.

Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides inside his Fifth Avenue apartment early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He scheduled an announcement for 2:15 after inquiries from the Times.

Mr. Spitzer, a first term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform an end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.

The governor’s travel records appear to confirm that he was in the capitol when one of the federal prosecutor’s male suspects met with a prostitute from the ring.

Should Spitzer step down, he would be replaced by Lt. Gov. David A. Patterson, a Democrat from Manhattan. Patterson is the first African American to be elected lieutenant governor of New York, and would be the state’s first black governor. He is also legally blind.