A SCOTTISH woman alleged to be the madam at the centre of a high society Manhattan prostitution ring has been remanded in custody after a £1 million-plus bail bond was set.

Anna Gristina, a mother-of-four from Edinburgh, was arrested on February 22 and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors insisted in court Gristina, now facing months in jail awaiting trial after being unable to stand bail, was an arrogant, wealthy madam who boasted of ties to law enforcement and stashed cash to flee if authorities closed in on her.

Gristina's lawyers described her as a dedicated suburban mother, an animal rescuer and a former real estate broker who was trying to build an online dating service.

The 44-year-old, who was brought up in Kirkliston on the outskirts of Edinburgh by adoptive parents, has pled not guilty to a single charge of promoting prostitution and is being held at Rikers Island jail. Bail was set at $1m (£636,000) cash or $2m bond.

One of her lawyers, Peter Gleason, said after the judge refused to lower the bail: "A caring mother of four has been slapped with a $2m bond."

However, State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said "the risk of flight seems significant".

Prosecutors claim Gristina was heard during a five-year investigation saying that she had made millions of dollars by arranging trysts. They also said she has wealthy clients and friends who "have an interest in not having this case go forward".

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Charles Linehan told the judge evidence suggested she has money set aside to flee.

He said: "She essentially assured anyone who asked that she has connections in law enforcement who will let her know if anything is going to come down, in terms of a criminal indictment."

Mr Linehan said that during a previous police investigation – apparently a reference to the 2008 prostitution bust in which former New York governor Eliot Spitzer was caught – Gristina had fled to Montreal in Canada where she has an apartment.

Kristin Davis, a New York madam who supplied Spitzer with prostitutes, has alleged it was the former governor himself who tipped off someone work-ing for Gristina's business, Fleur d'Elite, about a sting on escort agencies – prompting the Scottish woman to flee.

High-class escort Irma Nici – who famously claimed to have slept with David Beckham and Spitzer – told a US newspaper she worked for Gristina for six months in 2002.

It was reported yesterday that Gristina had kept in touch with friends in Scotland and had told them she was "building an empire" in the US.

Gristina's third husband Kelvin Gorr was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying yesterday: "We are just a great family and my wife means everything to me. I feel heartbroken."

It is claimed she ran a brothel in the commercial centre of New York for 15 years, often using an apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side as a setting for the sexual encounters she arranged, some of them involving under-age girls. Mr Gleason said the defence investigation had found no sign of this.

Gristina lives on a 12-acre property in Monroe, about 50 miles north of New York city.

Yesterday some of her relatives in Scotland – John and Gwen Tennant, of Craigentinney, Edinburgh – declined to comment.

Mrs Tennant, Gristina's sister-in-law, reportedly told an American newspaper: "I'm not surprised to hear she is involved in this. We really have nothing to do with her anymore. She moved away and never bothered."

Gristina is due back in court on May 3.