BRIAN ROSS REPORTS
- Like Jay-Z + the Beatles, But Worse
- Update: Help for Homeless Children
- Bush Era, Revised -- and with More Barbeque
- The Tax Woman Cometh
- Paging Mr. Stanford: Antigua Called
- Who Are You Calling Partisan?
- Update: IRS Won't Use Private Debt Collectors
- But Is It Art?
- PMA Scandal a Sore Point for Dems in 2010?
- Down in Flames
- A New Mystery for RNC Chief
- PMA Clients Were Big Givers
- Raided Lobby Firm Still a Force on Capitol Hill
- Stanford Update: Another $143 Mil Found
- Cheney, Hooked on Controversy
TOP BLOTTER CATEGORIES
- Abramoff Lobbying Scandal
- American Al Qaeda
- Avian Flu
- Beirut Hospital Out of Gas
- Cheney
- CIA
- CIA Secret Prisons
- D.C. Madam Affair
- FBI
- Federal Air Marshal Service
- Homeland Security
- Hurricane Katrina
- IRS
- Mark Foley Internet Scandal
- Millionaire Sex Scandal
- Nigerian E-mail Scams
- Norman Hsu, Clinton Fundraiser
- NSA: Wiretapping
- Osama bin Laden
- Payola
- Pharmacy Investigation
- PMA
- Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert
- Stanford
- Steele
- Terror
- Troopergate
- U.K. Airline Terror Plot
- U.K. Bombing Attempts
- Wen Ho Lee
- William Jefferson
- Zarqawi
« Previous | Main | Next »
D.C. Madam Wants Washington Clients to Testify
Email
Print
ShareApril 30, 2007 9:36 AM
The woman charged in a federal indictment with running a high-class Washington, D.C. call girl service says she plans to call her prominent clients to testify at her trial.
Jeane Palfrey, dubbed the D.C. Madam, says among those she will call to testify are Randall Tobias, who resigned Friday as deputy secretary of state after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of Palfrey's escort service.
Tobias said he "had some gals come over to the condo for a massage" but denied any sex was involved.
D.C. Madam Affair Unfolds in Pictures.
Tobias is the second prominent man to be identified as a customer of the Palfrey's "sexual fantasy service." Two weeks ago, Palfrey alleged that military strategist Harlan K. Ullman, creator of the "shock and awe" combat theory and now a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was also a customer. Ullman has said that the claim was "beneath the dignity of comment."
Also on Palfrey's list of customers who could be potential witnesses are a Bush administration economist, the head of a conservative think tank, a prominent CEO, several lobbyists and a handful of military officials.
"I'm sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone, four to eight years, because I'm shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever," Palfrey told ABC News correspondent Brian Ross in an interview to be broadcast Friday on "20/20." "I'll bring in every last one of them in if necessary," she said.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.
Palfrey is due in federal court Monday morning to ask the judge to replace her current lawyer, a public defender, with a lawyer who she says "will be more aggressive in fighting the government."
The indictment of Palfrey alleges she used more than 100 women over a period of 13 years "for the purpose of engaging in prostitution activity with male clients, including sexual intercourse and oral sex in exchange for money." She made more than $2 million running the operation, known as Pamela Martin and Associates, according to the federal indictment.
Palfrey, who ran the service by phone from her home in Solano County, Calif., is the only person charged. None of her male customers is named by the government.
"That's very hypocritical," she says. "Why aren't these people under arrest? Why just me?"
Palfrey claims she ran a legal operation that offered sexual fantasy but not "illegal sex" of the kind described in the indictment.
She says she hopes her prominent clients will testify they did not engage in actual sex when they hired her escorts.
"This was a sexual fantasy service," Palfrey told "20/20." "Occasionally a client would want to go to the Kennedy Center or go to dinner, but generally speaking they went straight to the homes, or they went straight to the hotels," she said.
Palfrey provided ABC News with phone records from her business going back four years.
April 30, 2007 in D.C. Madam Affair | Permalink | User Comments (286)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
ABC News needs to post the list of Palfrey's clients. What's the point of saying you have the list if you won't post it?
Posted by: D.T. | Apr 30, 2007 10:20:31 AM
But who is the real "madam" of Washington?
Posted by: Jacob | Apr 30, 2007 10:23:20 AM
If Palfrey is the only one charged and convicted, then this society still engages in unjust practices. Why should she be the only charged? It takes two or more to tangle.......If she committed a crime, she did not do it alone. Those officials who participated in this mess should be charged too. What kinda of stupid lopsided so called criminal non-justice system is this?
Posted by: Minister T. Wallace | Apr 30, 2007 10:32:07 AM
Post the list. They are involved just like she is, and should be named. This is just more of the double standards that run amuck. POST THEM ALL
Posted by: Mary H, Elk City Ok | Apr 30, 2007 10:33:48 AM
The fact that the D.C. Madam ran a business that was probably in violation of D.C's rules is not the argument here. She says that "she did run this escort business". But what she alleges is that she should not be punished because some of her clients were people in responsible positions in government and industry. The reality is these paying customers of the D.C. Madam may be married and this notoriety may cause great grief for them when there spouses find out. It's possible that the Madam may not have have reported the escort income on her Federal Income tax and this will probably lead to severe penalties.
Posted by: Laurence Stolow | Apr 30, 2007 10:41:27 AM
Post the list. They are much more culpable than Palfrey because of their hypocrisy. Their adherence to a double standard should be exposed to protect people from their duplicity.
Posted by: gunnar | Apr 30, 2007 10:42:22 AM
It's nonsense trying to take only Palfrey to Court. Her customers are as guilty as she is. Post their names and let's hope justice is done!
Posted by: Rod Romano | Apr 30, 2007 10:50:20 AM
Post the list already.
Or are you protecting ABC News people on the list? I'll bet that's why you don't post the list, because you are covering up for somebody(s) at ABC, huh? Otherwise you would post the list.
So post the list!
Posted by: Duckman GR | Apr 30, 2007 10:54:23 AM
Why is prostitution illegal again?
Posted by: Non-John | Apr 30, 2007 10:54:37 AM
I agree that the slimeballs should pay. But I have to admit that I feel for the families. Why humiliate the wives and children of these guys? Don't post the list.
Posted by: Mike Sullivan | Apr 30, 2007 10:56:17 AM
Hey! post the list and the phone number..I am so stressed out reading about all the scandals in Washington DC..I really can use a massage...
Posted by: madmax | Apr 30, 2007 10:57:07 AM
Its absurd that she is prosecuted, or that anyone is prosecuted. Whoever started the prosecution should be castigated by the press and the voters.
It'll help the cause of legalization for all the hypocrites to be exposed.
Posted by: Durst | Apr 30, 2007 10:57:31 AM
Post the list!!! We are ALL dying to know...!!!
Posted by: Sammy | Apr 30, 2007 11:00:16 AM
Palfrey for President!!! Go for it Jeane!
ABC post the darn list. Report the news now that you have it,
Posted by: Pat | Apr 30, 2007 11:00:53 AM
Typical politicians covering their own arses...nothing new here. Likely, they are mostly the right-wing conservative hypocrites that promote family values, when in fact, they are the ones that are usually the most guilty, unethical and morally corrupt people of all. There will never be justice when it comes to government being held accountable because it is and always has been a double standard. They make the laws yet feel they are above them. Total B.S.. Unless more of us stand up and take a stand against these injustices, nothing will ever change. It's so curious though why it is the media itself that often protects these people the most. It's back to the scarlet letter, let's persecute the one woman while the men (who were cheating on their wives, and even likely using taxpayers dollars for some of these expenses) go free. So typically American...no wonder we have become the laughing stock of the world.
Posted by: Tracy | Apr 30, 2007 11:01:30 AM
Post the list and there pictures. Everybody is getting tired of these politions thinking they are better than anyone else.
Posted by: richard h rhea | Apr 30, 2007 11:03:14 AM
What we wnat to know is: Is John Stossel on the list?
Posted by: Miller | Apr 30, 2007 11:03:39 AM
lets see the list already...
Posted by: Carrie | Apr 30, 2007 11:03:46 AM
The DC madam wants her clients to testify..Testify about what..that they got good massages..I wonder if this is a client rating system for the services. Well I will hold up the 5 card..
Posted by: madmax | Apr 30, 2007 11:06:41 AM
ABC, are you afraid of the political & possible financial repercussions of publishing the "Client List" of the D.C. Madam? Perhaps someone in the upper levels of YOUR organization may be on the "List"???????? Check!
Posted by: Pamela "G" | Apr 30, 2007 11:07:07 AM
Post a comment
