Story of the Day-The D.C. Madam

ABC News NightLine - Sex and Power

Deborah Jeane Palfrey (born 1956) is the former owner of Pamela Martin and Associates, which the United States government alleges was a prostitution service in Washington, D.C. She has been charged with operating a house of prostitution.[1] Palfrey claims the services she offered were legal.[1] She has been nicknamed the D.C. Madam. It has been alleged that her clients include many Beltway personalities, and State Department official Randall L. Tobias resigned after admitting he used the agency. On July 9, 2007, Republican U.S. senator David Vitter (Louisiana) issued a formal apology for his involvement in the "D.C. Madam" scandal after he was exposed through telephone records, saying “This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible.”She now lives in Escondido, California.

Biography
Palfrey was born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, but grew up partially in Orlando, Florida. Her father was a grocer. She graduated from Rollins College with a degree in criminal justice, and attended Thomas Jefferson School of Law, but did not graduate.[1] Working as a paralegal in San Diego, California, she became involved in the escort business, and, dismayed at how most services were run, including widespread drug abuse, she started her own company

D.C. Madam scandal
Palfrey appeared on ABC's 20/20 as part of an investigative report on 4 May 2007.[2] In combination with Palfrey's statement that she has 10,000 to 15,000 phone numbers of clients, this has caused several clients' lawyers to contact Palfrey to see whether accommodations could be made to keep their identities private.[3] Ultimately, ABC News, after going through what was described as "46 lbs" [21 kg] of phone records, decided that none of the potential clients was sufficiently "newsworthy" to bother mentioning.[4]

The scandal has led to the resignation of Ambassador Randall L. Tobias from his State Department position, with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Also named was Washington Times columnist Harlan Ullman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.[4]

On July 9th, 2007 Palfrey released the supposed entirety of her phone records for public viewing and download on the Internet in TIFF format. Senator David Vitter (R-LA) acknowledged that he had been a customer of Palfrey's escort service.


Since the Federal Government raided her northern California home and seized all her assets via the civil asset forfeiture process, Palfrey has been silent and has refused numerous requests for interviews. In April 2007, Palfrey contracted with wsRadio.com to be the premier guest on the network's "My Side of the Story" Internet radio show. In the wsRadio interviews conducted by Lee Mirabal, Palfrey describes her home based business, details her ordeal with federal agents, and discusses her theory as to why the government is targeting her escort business. In addition, Palfrey responds to the names ABC discovered on her phone records. Palfrey adamantly disputes the government's claims of illegal behavior. According to Palfrey, her company "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.


Palfrey has had prior legal problems, including a restraining order from a former boyfriend in 1989, and a 1990 arrest for prostitution. After fleeing to Montana, she was brought back for trial and spent 18 months in prison.[1] After her release, despite a promise to enter another line of work, she founded Pamela Martin and Associates. The service openly recruited using The Diamondback, a student newspaper independent of the University of Maryland, and the Washington City Paper. According to court papers, her escorts charged as much as $300 per hour, and many have professional careers in addition. Palfrey continued to reside in California, and may have cleared some US$2 million over 13 years in operation.

In October 2006, federal agents raided Palfrey's home after a two-year investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Postal Inspection Service.[5] Agents froze bank accounts worth over US$500,000, seizing papers relating to money laundering and prostitution charges
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Jeane_Palfrey

Deborah J Palfrey
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/people/Deborah+J+Palfrey


Download a Copy of the 1994-2006 Telephone Records
of the Escort Service
http://www.deborahjeanepalfrey.com/


DC Madam Phone Records Posted, Also Available Here
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/2341

D.C. Madam
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0705072palfrey1.html

Use this site to search the publicly released phone records of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, proprietor of Pamela Martin and Associates in Washington, DC.
http://www.dcphonelist.com/

DC Madam Speaks


Alleged D.C. Madam Starts Naming Names in Sex Scandal
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265849,00.html
WASHINGTON — A woman charged with running a D.C.-area prostitution ring on Thursday made good on her threat to identify high-profile clients, naming a military strategist who developed the combat theories known as "shock and awe" as a regular customer in court papers.

Harlan K. Ullman, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was named in court papers filed by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who is acting as her own lawyer.

Ullman, in a brief telephone interview, declined comment on the claim. "The allegations are beneath the dignity of a comment," he said.

His lawyer, Mike Mukasey, also declined comment, saying the allegations do not deserve a response.

Palfrey said in her motion that Ullman "is only one of dozens of such officials" who will be exposed as she prepares her defense.

She said that because of the high-profile nature of the case, and the powerful forces that are lined up against her, that the court should allocate $500,000 so she can hire an appropriately skilled defense attorney.


Prosecutors have accused Palfrey of trying to intimidate potential witnesses by exposing them publicly.

Ullman was the primary author of a 1996 report that coined the phrase "shock and awe," which calls for a massive attack of precision air power that psychologically destroys an enemy's will to fight as much as it destroys the physical ability to fight.

Ullman has since said that the term is often misunderstood and complained that the Bush administration used the term without properly employing the actual doctrine in the Iraq war.

Palfrey said she has 46 pounds of phone records that could expose more than 10,000 clients. Her civil attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, said he gave those records to ABC television so it could assist in identifying clients who could testify that the escort service did not engage in prostitution.
Judge Lifts Restraining Order Banning D.C. Madam From Revealing Client List
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,288341,00.html
WASHINGTON — A woman accused of running a prostitution ring in the nation's capital is free to distribute thousands of pages of phone records after a federal judge lifted a restraining order on Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler's order granted the request of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 51, of Vallejo, Calif., to quash restrictions by government prosecutors that prohibited her from giving away the list.

"As a result, Jeane has determined to release those records under certain conditions to qualified individuals or organizations," wrote her attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, in an e-mail.

Palfrey and her attorney have said the list contains up to 15,000 names and could shake up Washington by revealing high-profile individuals.

Prosecutors had won two temporary restraining orders to prevent her from distributing the list, first to preserve its availability, and then to prevent the harassment of potential witnesses through its distribution.

But prosecutors' arguments did not hold up, the judge ruled. The availability of the list is not in jeopardy and it was not seized or listed with her other assets that were subject to forfeiture, Kessler wrote.

Freezing "the personal property of an individual, not yet convicted of any crime" would be an extraordinary step, the requirements of which government prosecutors failed to satisfy, the judge wrote.

Palfrey is facing federal racketeering and conspiracy charges for running what she says was a legal escort service. Prosecutors say the business netted more than $2 million from 1993 to 2006.

Q&A Cafe at Nathans-DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey

Alleged DC Madam Can Distribute Records
Judge Lifts Restraining Order on Alleged DC Madam's Right to Distribute Phone Records
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3350575
A woman accused of running a prostitution ring in the nation's capital is free to distribute thousands of pages of phone records after a federal judge lifted a restraining order on Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler's order granted the request of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 51, of Vallejo, Calif., to quash restrictions by government prosecutors that prohibited her from giving away the list.

"As a result, Jeane has determined to release those records under certain conditions to qualified individuals or organizations," wrote her attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, in an e-mail.

Palfrey and her attorney have said the list contains up to 15,000 names and could shake up Washington by revealing high-profile individuals.

Prosecutors had won two temporary restraining orders to prevent her from distributing the list, first to preserve its availability, and then to prevent the harassment of potential witnesses through its distribution.

But prosecutors' arguments did not hold up, the judge ruled. The availability of the list is not in jeopardy and it was not seized or listed with her other assets that were subject to forfeiture, Kessler wrote.

Freezing "the personal property of an individual, not yet convicted of any crime" would be an extraordinary step, the requirements of which government prosecutors failed to satisfy, the judge wrote.

Palfrey is facing federal racketeering and conspiracy charges for running what she says was a legal escort service. Prosecutors say the business netted more than $2 million from 1993 to 2006.


'More Names Will Come Out,' Lawyer in D.C. Escort Case Vows
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/10/AR2007071001881.html
For months, alleged D.C. madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey has promised that her voluminous phone records -- all 46 pounds of them -- contained some powerful secrets. Within hours of their public release, a senator acknowledged Monday night that his telephone number was on the list.

Now, groups such as one calling itself Citizens for Legitimate Government, which runs a liberal Web site, are poring over the records, hoping to translate the raw numbers into more names and revelations. Montgomery Blair Sibley, Palfrey's civil attorney, said the records were given to 50 interested individuals or groups who "wanted to remain anonymous," after a federal judge's release of the records last week.

The records, covering the years 1993 through 2006, contain mostly outgoing calls from Palfrey's former business, Pamela Martin and Associates. They also were posted Monday on the Web site for Palfrey's legal defense fund for anyone to look at, Sibley said. It was Palfrey's practice at Pamela Martin to telephone a client back to confirm details of an appointment, thus making outgoing calls significant.

"Once more analysis is done, more names will come out," Sibley said in an interview yesterday.

In a world where phone numbers change constantly, where it is as easy to dial a wrong number as a right one, the public posting of the alleged D.C. madam's phone records has created a new commotion in a case that always aspired to be the next Washington sex scandal. It has raised the specter of wives searching frantically through records for their husbands' numbers, of grudge-bearers buckling down to unearth dirt on their enemies, of political groups aiming arrows at their opponents.

Lori Price, who manages the Citizens for Legitimate Government Web site and writes its daily newsletter, said she is prepared to devote the time the project needs.

"I've got the air conditioning on and my coffee cup beside me, and we'll be plodding through the list," said Price, a part-time writer and editor from Bristol, Conn.

In a statement Monday night, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said his telephone number was included in Palfrey's records dating from before he ran for the Senate in 2004. He did not say whether he used the escort service, referring only to a "very serious sin in my past." His statement also said he had "asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling." He added that he would "keep my discussion of the matter there."

Vitter released the statement after being contacted by Hustler magazine, which is targeting what it calls "moral hypocrites," according to the sex magazine's chief investigator.

The development reignited public interest in a case that had moved to the back burner in recent weeks. In April, about a month after her indictment on federal racketeering charges, Palfrey gave ABC News a portion of the records, from 2002 to 2006. She was hoping its reporters could shake loose some names, she said, because she did not have the resources to do the research herself. She also said that she expected former clients to say they received services that were not illegal -- bolstering her claims, she said, that she was not in the business of promoting prostitution.

Randall L. Tobias, a deputy secretary of state, resigned after ABC contacted him after finding his number in the records. Tobias said he had used the service for massages, not sex.

ABC's heavily publicized "20/20" program on the case, which aired May 4, failed to reveal any names beyond those of Tobias and Harlan Ullman, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. And when U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler placed a temporary restraining order on Palfrey and Sibley against releasing any other records, it seemed they might have nothing new to reveal.

But Kessler's decision Thursday to lift the order apparently changed all that. In her ruling, Kessler wondered why prosecutors "exhibited such a strong interest in protecting a list containing the telephone numbers of unindicted co-conspirators."

Palfrey, who has been free on personal recognizance, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment yesterday. Prosecutors declined to discuss the latest developments.

Sibley said he received hundreds of calls late last week from news organizations and others, "from Russia to China," who wanted the records. He said he and Palfrey decided to release the numbers "because we were advised people were selling the list online and the potential for manipulating it to falsely include numbers was quite real."

"We wanted an official list up there," Sibley said, "and to confirm or deny if someone's phone number was on the list."

Sibley said Palfrey needs as many names as possible to aid in her criminal defense. He described her as "a patriotic kind of girl from western Pennsylvania" who thinks citizens should know what their public officials are up to.

Price, of Citizens for Legitimate Government, said she received a computer disk from Sibley "by snail mail" Monday that contained the full phone records. Since then, she said, she and three others have been trying to put names to the numbers, using Google and other Internet search engines.

"We're not going to harass anybody," Price said.

Citizens for Legitimate Government was established in December 2000 "in the aftermath of what we perceive as the stolen 2000 presidential election," Price said. She became interested in the alleged D.C. madam case and began exchanging e-mails with Palfrey a while back, she said. She had to sign "a little contract" that promised not to profit from the records or post Palfrey's relatives' numbers.

"We were interested to see, with some of the family-values GOP stars, if there was any kind of contradiction to their daily life and what they're espousing in public," Price said. "We're not here to hurt people. The hypocrisies are what we're exposing."

She added that she will also post the names of liberal-leaning officials if she finds them. "If one is doing an investigation, what I find out may not be what I want, but I'm not censoring to defend liberals," she said.

New Orleans ex-madam: La. senator a client
Allegation comes hours after Vitter apologizes for links to ‘D.C. Madam’
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19685977/
NEW ORLEANS - Sen. David Vitter, who publicly apologized after being linked to an alleged prostitution ring in Washington, was once a client of a high-priced New Orleans brothel, a former madam told a New Orleans television station Tuesday.

Jeanette Maier, who pleaded guilty to running the Canal Street brothel in 2002, made the allegation in an interview with WDSU-TV.

"He seemed to be one of the nicest men and most honorable men I've ever met," Maier said in the taped interview.


Maier said that Vitter visited the brothel several times for several years in the mid-1990s. Maier's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for an interview by The Associated Press.

Federal prosecutors unveiled the existence of the $300-an-hour brothel in April 2002. It was linked to similar operations in other U.S. cities. Maier was among 17 defendants who pleaded guilty in the investigation. With all the guilty pleas, there was never a trial, and that kept under wraps a list of customers that reportedly included prominent attorneys, doctors and business professionals.

Vitter's office did not respond to a call for comment on the latest allegation.

'A very serious sin in my past'
He had declined interview requests throughout the day Tuesday, and he made no public appearances in the Capitol. The night before, he'd made a startling confession in an e-mail to The Associated Press:

"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling."

Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there _ with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way."

The statement containing Vitter's apology said his telephone number was on old phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates before he ran for the Senate.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey was accused in federal court of racketeering by running a prostitution ring that netted more than $2 million over 13 years, beginning in 1993. She contends, however, that her escort service, Pamela Martin and Associates, was a legitimate business.

Vitter, 46, a Republican in his first Senate term, was elected to the Senate in 2004. He represented Louisiana's 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2004.

Vitter and his wife, Wendy, live in Metairie, Louisiana, with their four children.

Vitter, a first-term Republican who previously served in the House, recently played a prominent role in derailing an immigration bill backed by President Bush. He also is a key supporter of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid, serving as regional campaign chairman for the South.

Palfrey's attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, told the AP, "I'm stunned that someone would be apologizing for this." He said Palfrey had posted the phone numbers of her escort service's clients online Monday, but he did not know whether Vitter's number was among them. Vitter's statement was sent to the AP's New Orleans bureau Monday evening.

Palfrey's Web site contains 20 compressed files of phone records, dating from August 1994 to August 2006. No names are listed, only phone numbers. Palfrey wrote on the Web site that she believed a disk containing the records had been pirated, and wrote that she was posting the records "to thwart any possible distorted version and to ensure the integrity of the information."

Silas Lee, a political analyst and pollster in New Orleans, spoke Monday about the possible political impact on Vitter.

"In the short term, I think the issue will dominate the discourse for a few days and weeks, and though he's up for re-election in 2010, it should dissipate by then," Lee told WWL-TV in New Orleans.

‘They may not be able to forgive’
"But for some of his very conservative constituents, it might not be as easy. In their mind and eyes, they may not be able to forgive. The majority may overlook it in time depending on his job performance and how sincere voters believe he wants them to forgive him."

Earlier this year Palfrey, 51, of Vallejo, California, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the criminal case against her — a request the court denied in May. Her attorney had argued that it was unfair to proceed against Palfrey because her assets remain seized in a civil forfeiture case, meaning she lacks the money to hire an attorney of her choice.

Randall Tobias, a senior official in the State Department, resigned in April after ABC News confronted him about his use of the escort service. He admitted that he had hired women to come to his Washington condo and give him massages but denied that he had sex with the escorts.

Palfrey threatened for months to release her client list, which led prosecutors to accuse her of trying to intimidate potential witnesses.

Contending that her escort service was legal, Palfrey revealed details of its operation on ABC television's news magazine "20/20" on May 4. At the time, ABC said it could not link any information provided by Palfrey to members of Congress or White House officials but did find links to prominent business executives, NASA officials and at least five military officers.

Prosecutors contend that Palfrey knew the 130 women she employed over 13 years were engaged in prostitution. She claims that she operated a "legal, high-end erotic fantasy service" and that the women signed contracts in which they promised not to have sex with clients. The service charged a flat rate of $275 for 90 minutes, she said.

Palfrey pleaded guilty to pimping charges in 1991 and was sentenced to 18 months in a California prison.

THE FAMILY VALUES REPUBLICAN & THE DC MADAM

Republican senator exposed by DC madam phone logs
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/07/12/2003369228
A conservative senator from America's Bible Belt has apologized after being exposed as a former customer of an upscale call girl ring whose massive client list is said to include many Washington power brokers.

David Vitter, a Republican lawmaker from Louisiana, issued a statement late on Monday acknowledging "a very serious sin in my past," after his telephone number appeared on a phone list of clients connected to the escort service run by Washington's "DC Madam."

"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter said in the statement published in the state's leading newspaper, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, along with other local and national media.

"Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling," the married father of four said.

The first-term senator, whose congressional career has centered largely on issues of marriage, family and morality, added: "Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there -- with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way."

The 46-year-old senator is the latest public official snared in the sex scandal, with many more possible. A federal judge last week lifted a restraining order which now allows alleged "madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey to distribute thousands of pages of phone records that could identify as many as 15,000 people who had dealings with her company.

Palfrey's agency -- Pamela Martin and Associates -- which she insists was a legal escort service, is said to have catered to a broad cross-section of private and public sector officials, including NASA officials, several US military brass, World Bank and International Monetary Fund executives.
US Republican senator sorry for DC Madam 'sin'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2053568.ece
A God-fearing Republican Senator has apologised for "a very serious sin" after becoming the first member of the US Congress to be discovered on the telephone records of the woman dubbed DC Madam, who is alleged to have run one of Washington's biggest prostitution rings.

Senator David Vitter, a married father of four who represents Louisiana, issued a statement saying he had "asked for and received forgiveness from God" after his telephone number appeared among those associated with the service of Pamela Martin and Associates.

The company's proprietor, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 51, is currently facing federal charges of racketeering for allegedly running a prostitution ring out of homes and hotel rooms in the Washington area, which is believed to have netted her more than $2 million over 13 years from 1993.

“This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible,” Mr Vitter said, in the statement issued to the Associated Press news agency today. “Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counselling.

"Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there - with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.”

Mr Vitter's apparent association with DC Madam was revealed when she posted her telephone records on the internet after an injunction against doing so was lifted by a judge four days ago. The names were included in a series of files on a website devoted to Ms Palfrey's legal defence fund. She denies all charges of racketeering, contending that her escort service was a legitimate business.

The revelations represent a considerable embarrassment for Mr Vitter, who has in the past fought off allegations that he had a lengthy relationship with another prostitute in New Orleans.

Following the claims, by a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee, the Senator told a radio interview that they were "absolutely and completely untrue," labelling them as "just crass Louisiana politics".

The 46-year-old is serving his first Senate term, having been elected in 2004. He represented Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District in the House from 1999 to 2004.

He and his wife, Wendy, live in Metairie, Louisiana, with their four children. On his website, he says he is committed to the advancement of "mainstream conservative principles". He also says that he, along with his wife, is a lector at his hometown church.

While Mr Vitter is the first member of Congress to be associated with DC Madam, he is not the first high-profile political figure. Earlier this year the name of Randall L Tobias, a deputy secretary of State, was discovered on Ms Palfrey's records, after she leaked several thousand names to ABC News.

After being contacted by the news station, Mr Tobias claimed he used her services for massages and not sex. A day later, he resigned from the State Department. A judge then placed a restraining order on the release of any further records, which was lifted last Thursday.
NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News both ignored Vitter's connection to DC Madam
http://mediamatters.org/items/200707110005?f=h_topic
During their July 10 broadcasts, neither NBC's Nightly News nor CBS' Evening News with Katie Couric reported on the disclosure that Sen. David Vitter's (R-LA) phone number was among the phone records of alleged "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey. As Media Matters for America has previously noted, Palfrey was indicted on racketeering charges stemming from allegations that she ran a prostitution ring, and is reportedly planning on calling Vitter as a witness to her defense. By contrast, during the July 10 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson, ABC News senior political correspondent Jake Tapper reported on the story, noting that Vitter "is a self-proclaimed defender of family values," and was a "conservative rising star, and led a charge against same-sex marriage." Tapper reported that Vitter recently sent a "letter to senators, urging them to support abstinence education, to teach teenagers, quote, 'that saving sex until marriage and remaining faithful afterwards is the best choice for health and happiness.' " Tapper further noted that presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) recently tapped Vitter "to be his campaign's regional Southern chairman."

Palfrey has denied the government's allegation that she was running a prostitution ring. As ABC News reported, she has maintained that "she ran a legal 'sexual fantasy service' and that women who worked for her agreed not to engage in illegal sexual activity with clients, intercourse or oral sex." Palfrey kept a list of her alleged clients' phone numbers, which were released following a July 5 order by U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler. ABC News Investigative Unit producer Justin Rood reported that "[a]ccording to Palfrey's lawyer, Vitter's number appeared on a February 2001 phone record." On July 9, Vitter apologized for "a very serious sin in my past," about which he claimed he had "received forgiveness from God and my wife." Rood added that Hustler magazine "may have prompted" Vitter's apology, reporting that "Vitter's office released its statement" soon after "a Hustler editor contacted Vitter's office to ask his connection to Palfrey's service." According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Palfrey's attorneys have stated that "investigators working for Palfrey plan to contact Vitter and ask him to be a defense witness when she goes to trial."

'Chicago Tribune' National Desk Shows Up On 'D.C. Madam' Phone List
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003610486
CHICAGO The 2-minute, 30-second call was made from Deborah Jean Palfrey's escort service on Jan. 3, 2001. The appearance of the call was first reported by Tribune Washington, D.C., bureau reporter Andrew Zajac in the bureau's blog "The Swamp."

No one answered a call to the D.C. bureau Wednesday afternoon, and the newspaper's managing editor for news, George De Lama, is on vacation.

Palfrey's release of a decade's worth of phone records has D.C. politicians anxiously -- and journalists eagerly -- poring over the calls from a service authorities allege was a prostitution ring.

So far, the number of one prominent politician, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, has appeared on the phone records. Vitter said he was sorry for a "serious sin."

At the Tribune, one listing has journalists scratching their heads.

The Tribune's Zajac wrote that Palfrey's lawyer, Montgomery Blair Sibley, couldn't explain the brief afternoon call to "one of the more sober and serious corners of the Tribune."

Sibley said the call did have "the traditional look for a customer call."

"Usually there are two or three calls in an hour or so," he told Zajac. "The customer calls back for directions, confirming, things like that."

Chicago, too, is a long way from Rockville, Md., where Palfrey's former business, Paula Martin & Associates, was located.

Sibley said "you can't eliminate" a possible reason for the call.

"Including a wrong number, right?" the Tribune's Zajac wrote.
Did the DC Madam call the Tribune?
http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2007/07/sorry_wrong_number.html
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the Cupid's bow-lipped escort service impressario, whose phone records have Washington undies in a bunch, has planted a big wet one on the Chicago Tribune.

Or has she?

One of the numbers dialed out from Palfrey's phone on the afternoon of Jan. 3, 2001 matches that of the Tribune national desk.

Palfrey posted the phone bills for her agency, Pamela Martin and Associates, on-line, in a bid, she's said, to smoke out customers who will support her contention that services rendered were legal.

Palfrey's lawyer, Montgomery Blair Sibley, wasn't of much help in understanding the circumstances of the approximately two and half minute call into one of the more sober and serious corners of the Tribune.
Palfrey didn't explain it either, though she suggested, vaguely, that she had a reason for calling the number.

First Sibley from a brief phone interview late Tuesday: "I can shed no light on that at all....That's not the traditional look for a customer call. Usually there are two or three in an hour or so. The customer calls back for directions, confirming, things like that."
"But that doesn't mean it couldn't have been an appointment," Sibley said, or a personal call of Palfrey's. "You can't eliminate any possibility."

This morning, Palfrey, in response to an e-mail query, said that "all outgoing (itemized) calls were made by me, from California to clients in the Washington area. These are data rich calls. The only way I would have any D.C related telephone number and/or other area code cell number would be if an individual gave it to me."


Rumor: VP Cheney on DC Madam Call List?
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/2366
Ever since the DC Madam's phone list hit the web, volunteers, reporters, and inquisitive minds from around the country have been eagerly scouring through the pages to find the next big name. Republicans, Democrats - people from both parties are expected to be found in the list. One source is already claiming that several people have found the biggest name yet - Vice President Dick Cheney.

Now we cannot officially confirm this, and at this time it is pure speculation, but what if it were true? It would be one of the final nails in the coffin on Cheney's already tanking credibility and political career.

The site alleges that, at the very least, Cheney and his aides were involved in buying so-called "entertainment" for foreign clients while he was CEO at Halliburton. At the worst, it could be that Cheney himself was utilizing the services of Deborah Jeane Palfrey's alleged prostitution company, Pamela Martin & Associates.

If it is true and it can be proved, expect a whirlwind of White House spin to be headed our way soon...

Sleuths pounce on 'D.C. Madam's' files
Some seek to match numbers to names
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-madam_11jul11,1,1103988.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
WASHINGTON -- For months, the so-called D.C. Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, has promised that her voluminous phone records -- all 46 pounds of them -- contained some powerful secrets.
Within hours of their public release, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) acknowledged Monday that his telephone number was on the list.

Now, groups such as one calling itself Citizens for Legitimate Government, which runs a liberal Web site, are poring over the records, hoping to translate the raw numbers into more names and revelations.

Montgomery Blair Sibley, Palfrey's civil attorney, said the records were given to 50 interested individuals or groups who "wanted to remain anonymous." A federal judge last week said the records could be released.

The records, covering the years 1993 through 2006, contain mostly outgoing calls from Palfrey's former business, Pamela Martin and Associates. They also were posted Monday on the Web site for Palfrey's legal defense fund for anyone to look at, Sibley said.

It was Palfrey's practice at Pamela Martin to telephone a client back to confirm details of an appointment, thus making outgoing calls significant.

"Once more analysis is done, more names will come out," Sibley said in an interview Tuesday.

In a world where phone numbers change constantly, where it is as easy to dial a wrong number as a right one, the public posting of the alleged D.C. Madam's phone records has created a new commotion in a case that always aspired to be the next Washington sex scandal.

Lori Price, who manages the Citizens for Legitimate Government Web site and writes its daily newsletter, said she is prepared to devote the time the project needs. "I've got the air conditioning on and my coffee cup beside me, and we'll be plodding through the list," said Price, a part-time writer and editor from Bristol, Conn.

In a statement Monday night, Vitter said his telephone number was included in Palfrey's records dating from before he ran for the Senate in 2004. He did not say whether he used the escort service, referring only to a "very serious sin in my past." His statement also said he had "asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling."

Vitter recently played a prominent role in derailing an immigration bill backed by President Bush, and he is Southern regional chairman for Rudolph Giuliani's presidential bid.

Federal prosecutors have accused Palfrey of racketeering by running a prostitution ring that netted more than $2 million over 13 years, beginning in 1993. She contends that her escort service was a legitimate business offering sexual fantasies.

So Sorry About the Names, Alleged Madam Says
Palfrey Hopes Release Will Flush Out Defense Witnesses
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043000665.html
The alleged D.C. madam is in desperate need of defense witnesses.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey told reporters that she is "genuinely sorry" if people are hurt when identified as clients of her elite escort service -- but she has no choice but to call them to prove that her escorts provided only the fantasy of sex. Not the real thing, which would be illegal.


Of the deputy secretary of state who resigned Friday after being confronted by an ABC reporter asking why his private cellphone number was on Palfrey's phone list, Palfrey could only sympathize: "I unfortunately know firsthand the implication such a revelation can have upon one's life."

She also knows the town is edgily awaiting the next name to be dropped, in a verbal Dance of the Seven Veils. According to ABC's Web site, Palfrey's potential witness list includes "a Bush administration economist, the head of a conservative think tank, a prominent CEO, several lobbyists, and a handful of military officials."

But forget them for the moment, Palfrey suggested yesterday; instead, she urged reporters to help expose why prosecutors are unfairly hounding her.

"Put aside the titillation of the who's-who list -- at least in part -- and instead investigate the disturbing genesis, the confounding evolution and the equally alarming continuation of this matter," she said. "I believe there is something very rotten at the core of my circumstance."

The government is armed with its own witnesses.

Among them are several women prepared to testify that they were prostitutes who worked for Palfrey's firm, Pamela Martin & Associates. There also are men who, though they would prefer she plead guilty and leave their names out of it, will testify that they paid for sex with women working for Palfrey, according to court records and law enforcement sources briefed on the three-year investigation.

Prosecutors also have a paper trail of money transfers and newsletters to buttress their contention that Palfrey knew her Washington area escorts were providing something more concrete than vivid fantasies.

She came to their attention almost inadvertently, sources said. The investigation began with an unsolicited tip to -- who else? -- the Internal Revenue Service from an angry man who said he had discovered that his girlfriend was working as a prostitute for Palfrey.

Then they heard from a woman who said she had answered Palfrey's ad in the City Paper seeking prospective escorts, sources said. To the young woman's surprise, when she went on a date with a client, he wanted to have sex with her. She declined, and soon she heard from Palfrey, who told her the escort service was "not a social network" and the woman should start providing what clients really wanted, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation.

Not that Palfrey wasn't careful. According to records prosecutors filed in the case, a woman who worked for Palfrey was arrested in an Alexandria prostitution sting. That caused great consternation. Soon after the arrest, Palfrey's newsletters included detailed instructions on avoiding arrest. One tip: Have the client undress first.


Now, as the case is moving closer to trial, U.S. v. Palfrey is reaching three-ring status.

Palfrey's attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, said she "never kept a little black book," so she had turned over to ABC 46 pounds of personal phone records, hoping the news organization would mine them for names of clients who patronized Pamela Martin & Associates.

That's why "20/20" reporter Brian Ross called Randall L. Tobias last week at his office in the State Department, where he worked on foreign aid promoting administration policies in favor of abstinence and against prostitution. Tobias told ABC that he had received massages from Palfrey's escorts but not sex. Then he quit his job.

As Washington waits for the next name to be slipped into a dry court filing, or blurted out on national television, exasperated federal prosecutors argue that Palfrey and her attorney are running a media blitz -- using "20/20" to intimidate and coerce men whose careers and reputations could be ruined when the world finds out they were paying $300 an hour for escorts.

Some veteran Washington defense lawyers privately question Palfrey's strategy: Who would willingly appear as a defense witness to help someone who has just made him the brunt of gossip and ruined his career and life?

In her statement, Palfrey said the approach was necessary "since the government has placed me in the untenable position whereby I do not have sufficient monies to undertake this extraordinarily expensive task on my own." The federal government has frozen her assets, including two California houses, and she is now "indigent," she said.

As a client, Palfrey may not be easy. She had been assigned one of the court's most respected defense lawyers, A. J. Kramer. But the two had "irreconcilable differences" over how to best proceed with her defense, she said.

Kramer declined yesterday to comment on their split, but it was clear that Palfrey's and Sibley's propensity to hold news conferences after every court hearing did not mesh with Kramer's style.

Presiding U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler agreed yesterday to appoint a new public defender for Palfrey within a week. The judge denied Palfrey's request, however, to hire Herald Farhinger, a New York lawyer who has represented Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Claus von Bulow, the British socialite who was first convicted then acquitted of trying to kill his wife.

Palfrey, who served 18 months in a California state prison for a 1992 conviction for attempted felony pimping, added later that she was dismayed that Tobias had refused to come forward on his own.

"Had he done so earlier along with the many, many others who have used my company's services throughout the years, I most likely would not be in my current predicament," she said.
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