Posted on 05/03/2007 6:51:51 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Deborah Jeane Palfrey was blunt at times, rambling and conspiratorial at others in a 1991 letter explaining to a judge why she jumped bail and skipped out on her trial for prostitution-related charges in California.
"Prison is an absurd and unthinkable horror for me to embrace for simply being an enterprising business person," she wrote. "For God's sake, I was only running an escort service!"
Now, 16 years later, Palfrey, 51, of Vallejo, Calif., is accused in federal court of running a Washington, D.C.-based prostitution ring. Prosecutors fear history will repeat itself, now that a judge has rescinded a requirement that Palfrey submit to electronic monitoring while she is free on pretrial release.
Palfrey, who ran the escort service Pamela Martin and Associates, is charged with racketeering and money laundering associated with prostitution. Her case has garnered wide attention ever since she told reporters that her client list included prominent Washington officials and supplied ABC News with phone records that might verify her claims. The network plans to air a report on Palfrey's case Friday night on its "20/20" newsmagazine.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler agreed this week to end Palfrey's electronic monitoring. Her pretrial release supervisors in California requested the change, saying her frequent travel, including trips to Washington for court hearings, made the monitoring unwieldy.
Prosecutors objected, reminding Kessler of Palfrey's history of fleeing.
But the judge noted that Palfrey has shown she is complying with court orders and is required only to check in by phone with pretrial services three times a week.
When Palfrey was to have gone on trial in San Diego Superior Court in 1991, she never showed up, instead leaving behind a long, rambling letter with her lawyer. In it, she claimed - much as she claims now - that her lawyers failed her and that police and prosecutors were out to get her.
She said she fled because she "cannot find justice. ... Instead I have found a system replete with dirty rotten cops, avaricious and jaded defense attorneys and prosecutors who have no conscience at all," she wrote.
She was arrested a few months later in Montana at the Canadian border. It is not clear whether she was leaving the country or seeking to re-enter. She was later sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to attempted pimping.
In court papers connected to her sentencing, she blamed a nervous breakdown for her decision to flee.
"(It) was not an act of irresponsibility, but one of fear and confusion and poor defense counsel," she wrote.
She also promised to change careers and become an art dealer. "There is no intent on my part to re-enter the escort business," she wrote.
In the current case, she has also complained about what she calls prosecutorial misconduct and her court-appointed lawyer. Kessler agreed to give her a new attorney because of "irreconcilable differences."
Palfrey, who has told reporters she ran a "legal, high-end erotic fantasy service," gave ABC News 46 pounds of her phone records before a judge's order barring her from releasing them took effect. She said she hoped that the network could match the phone numbers to customers who would testify that they received only legal services from the escorts.
Palfrey is using court-appointed attorneys because the government has seized most of her assets, accusing her of laundering more than $2 million in revenue she generated over 13 years.
Prosecutors have said in court papers that she employed more than 130 women as escorts during that time. Palfrey says the women signed contracts promising that they would not engage in sexual activity with customers.
A lawyer for Palfrey said Thursday that a Naval Academy instructor was one of the service's escorts, and ABC reported that a secretary at the prominent Akin Gump law firm was another escort.
ABC has said that the list of customers includes a Bush administration economist, a prominent chief executive officer, the head of a conservative think tank, lobbyists and military officials.
Last week, senior State Department official Randall Tobias resigned from his post after ABC confronted him about his use of the service. Tobias confirmed to ABC that he used the service but denied having sex with the escorts.
And in court papers filed last month, Palfrey said that Harlan Ullman, a military consultant best known as an author of the "shock and awe" combat strategy, was a regular customer. Ullman has said the accusation does not merit a response.
Associated Press writer in Allison Hoffman in San Diego contributed to this report.
Published: 04 May 2007
"A former client of the woman described as the "DC Madam" is trying to prevent his name being made public tonight in a television news programme expected to lay out details of the alleged vice ring run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey for 13 years."
"In a letter to lawyers of the ABC network, the attorney Steven Salky said he had "reason to believe" his client would feature in ABC News's prime time 20/20 programme."
The question I have is can client's attorney bring action against ABC News?
Fact:*
Published defamation -- called libel -- for example a newspaper article or television broadcast. Pictures as well as words can be libellous. Anything that injures a person's reputation can be defamatory. If a comment brings a person into contempt, disrepute or ridicule, it is likely to be defamatory.
However, if what ABC said was true but not considered by the court to be in the "public interest", can they be successfully sued for defamation?
Can a phone record prove actual client?.. not just inquiry, wrong number, someone using another's phone for anonymity or intent to maliciously frame another?
Any Legal Minds here?
Truth is a defense to a defamation suit, so any of the purported clients who sues had better be prepared to have his personal life made public.
I think this is great that it is DC that is going to suffer from its own misguided big government statism. The government has no role whatsover interfering in this woman’s business with her voluntary clients.
So, where does Hillary!’s name appear in the phone record...and how many times?
Washington Business Journal Names Steve Salky Top
Washington Lawyer in Corporate Litigation
Washington Business Law Journal
September 14, 2006
Steven Salky, a partner in the firm's Washington, DC office, was awarded the honor of Top Washington Lawyer in the Corporate Litigation Category by the Washington Business Journal on September 14, 2006.
Salky was most recently defense attorney in the Fannie Mae fraud.
And now the political prostitutes want to keep the DC Madam from spilling the beans.
The political prostitues deserve to be exposed for what they really are.
Maybe good reporters (unlike Matthew and Allison) would share with us the name of the judge who put the freeze on the phone records. And maybe good reporters (unlike Matthew and Allison) would share with us the name of the Barney Fife US Attorney who shot his career in the foot, terminally...
I won't hold ny breath.
It’s a good thing I’ve used the lady’s fine services under an assumed name (’Revolting cat!’, whadid ya think?) Whew,that was close!
A job loss which might follow because of public humilation via the media (ABC) for shock, awe, ratings' sweeps and/or with political bias intent found to be of no real "value to the public", even if true..I would hope present and future employment/income loss because of actions deemed "private with no injury to any parties involved", that party would be damaged in making a living and be handsomely compensated.
Why exactly is this a federal issue??
I suppose too they will try to link this with the Bush administration, even if there are plenty of Dems involved. Already some talking heads say it points out the hypocrisy of right wingers who claim to be moralists. Yet besides his opposition to same gender marriage, when has anyone ever heard GWB preach about sex issues or sound like he is trying to impose moral values on anyone??
“Why is this a federal issue?”
Because it’s Washington D.C., not in one of the 50 states.
Catherine K. Connelly, Daniel Butler and William Cowden
"Gotta Put A Lid On It" by Gladys Kessler and The Pips...
The ASSistant US Attorneys, the IRS goons and the Postal dweebs thought they'd swoop in, do an asset freeze and seizure, and life would be grand for another fiscal cycle.
But the swag bag blew up in their faces, just like the dyed money bags from a bank robbery.
LOLOL!!!
Yup!
This story tickles me silly. You have to know that there are going to be a lot of names on that list — Republicans and Democrats alike. And there are going to be a lot of red faces when it is finally released.
And you can be it will be.
Say what you want, she got this part right.
ABC/Ross will make it a Republican hit list.
Dims’ have no need to be concerned.
Heh heh! Get the popcorn out.
If the D.C. Madam does cut and run having been removed from her ankle monitor.. would certainly make a better story!!
I am sure she could get the necessary assistance in her escape. ;)
A Bust..
20/20 did not release names as no one of interest.
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