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Dial E for Extortion? Accused D.C. 'Madam' May Sell Phone Records
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ShareMarch 01, 2007 3:13 PM
The former proprietess of a long-running Washington, D.C.-area "sexual services firm" is trying to sell information about her wealthy customers to cover the costs of her legal defense.
Deborah Jean Palfrey, former head of Pamela Martin Associates, faces numerous criminal charges after federal agents busted her on money laundering charges. After the IRS seized her assets, she says she needs money to pay her lawyers -- so she is "considering" the sale of her agency's telephone records, which cover its 13 years of operation.
Palfrey's customers reportedly included wealthy D.C.-area doctors and lawyers, but Palfrey has hinted that the women who worked for her may have serviced elected officials. In an interview with the Smoking Gun Web site last year, she said she thought the authorities had discovered her operation in the process of investigating "some Duke Cunningham-type bigwig client that got caught up in something[.]"
Federal prosecutors have alleged that former Congressman Duke Cunningham, now in jail for accepting bribes, spent evenings with hookers in Hawaii. Palfrey, however, isn't reported to have had operations in Hawaii, and, aside from her comment, there is no known link between her and the ongoing Cunningham investigation.
Investigators believe Palfrey's women – "independent contractors," as she refers to them – conducted several thousand transactions while her firm was active. But Palfrey didn't keep records and she demanded her employees destroy any notes within hours of each assignation, making her phone records perhaps the only extant evidence that could show who her clients might have been.
To entice prospective buyers, Palfrey has posted a page of her records on her Web site. Covering a five-day period in August 1996, several numbers have been obscured with red markings. Of the Washington, D.C. numbers which are legible, none have the three-digit exchanges used for official congressional offices.
On her site, Palfrey defended her work. "The business, Pamela Martin and Associates, functioned as a high-end adult fantasy firm which offered legal sexual and erotic services across the spectrum of adult sexual behavior and did so without incident during its 13 year tenure."
March 1, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (11)
THERE WAS A SIMILAR INCIDENT IN A SMALL S.E. TOWN IN La.A FEW YEARS AGO. THE "LADY" SERVICED HIGH PROFILE CLIENTS. UNFORTUNATELY SHE WAS FOUND HANGED IN HER JAIL CELL -------- SUICIDE IT WAS RULED. WANNA BET!!!
Posted by: frank | Mar 1, 2007 9:18:47 PM
Try looking on the bright side. At least the "independent contractors" got paid. The American public gets screwed by Congress all the time and never gets a red cent......
Posted by: mambo | Mar 2, 2007 4:44:14 PM
I just hope they got there moneys worth because im afraid its going to cost them just a bit more.
Posted by: mike | Mar 3, 2007 6:02:42 PM
U GO GIRL! Watch your behind!
Posted by: sick in mass | Mar 5, 2007 10:04:30 PM
Honestly, who cares? There are plenty of other things happening to be worrying about prostitutes, either way there will always be someone out there replacing her, after all is all about demand!!! Clinton just got unlucky, he got caught doing what millions of married men do. Unfortunately for him he happened to be the "president" who got caught doing it. It truly doesn't matter...
Posted by: K | Mar 6, 2007 1:10:00 PM
This is a law violation and is not a crime because there are no victims!
It's making people happy, so leave Deborah Palfrey alone and concentrate on real crime & terrorism. Start with dismantling the FBI and reorganizing into a real force for good.
Posted by: Don | Mar 9, 2007 3:25:00 PM
Our tax dollars once again wasted, and if justice is fair, she won't be convicted.
Why do we continue to do these witch hunts? Why not simply make it legal and have taxes collected on their income? After hundreds of years, society has unsuccessfully tried to curb this type of industry to no avail. Incredible; simply incredible. Amazing to me society continues to beat their head against a wall that will never be broken. One is temporarily put out of business and another madam; we have not yet identified, will get busier. It seems as if, as a society, we don't realize we have more important criminals to take up the police, district attorneys and the courts time… like oh I don’t know say the criminals hurting our children and the drug dealers selling drugs to our children.
Further these cases are the exact type that make me give the judical system as a whole a big eye roll.
Posted by: Marie | Mar 9, 2007 8:11:15 PM
The FBI or whomever is wasting time on this case should do something more constructive with our tax money. No one cares about this case. Make it legal and get some tax money instead of using tax money to prosecute this stupid case.
Posted by: Tom | Apr 14, 2007 11:23:57 AM
Another case of misdirected Puritanism. I makes me ill thinking that we are focusing on what happens between consenting adults. Who really cares? Do our law enforcement agencies not have enough to do? It is a shame that the news media continues to report on these cases - they generate a scandal out of nothing. It is the world's oldest profession - and it not about love, solely fantasy and sex. Again, who cares? Fix campaign finance where the real prostitution and violation of our country occurs.
Posted by: John | Apr 28, 2007 6:11:50 AM
I think that it is time for the government to exit the "personal services" policing business. Perhaps the release of the names of the Washington hypocrites who received services will be the watershed moment that will allow the legalization and legitimization of the personal services industry. We can only hope.
Posted by: Jason | Jul 10, 2007 8:10:25 AM
I guess american tax payers money is being spent on brothels.That is why giving a bj in these brothels is more lucrative than going to a university.
Posted by: soni | May 2, 2008 2:47:19 AM
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