http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_gustav_w_080506_abc_news_shielding_c.htm
May 6, 2008 at 08:09:04
ABC News Shielding Cheney after DC Madam Hanging?
by Gustav Wynn
Florida police made public two notes handwritten by Deborah Jeane Palfrey this weekend, touching off debate on whether her hanging was in fact suicide or staged to look so. At least one reporter is claiming the DC Madam mentioned she'd kill herself before returning to prison, but another interviewer has aired recent audio of Palfrey warning that if she was found dead, it would be murder.
Initial reports of Palfrey's death conclusively ruled it a suicide, a bit hasty considering the magnitude of the sensitive secrets she held. I first heard the news on an NPR broadcast Thursday afternoon which included an official's soundbyte on how relatives are victimized in suicides, a strange generalization that pointed blame at Palfrey for hurting her own mother before any other details of the case were released. This statement was attached to the breaking news by an "imbedded pundit", only raising suspicion of media manipulation in the earliest going.
Any intelligent debate is impossible with this lack of detail available so far. We're told the letters were penned a few days before her body was discovered hanged in her mother's shed, left on a nearby motel stand, though we don't know when investigators first saw them. Police say relatives confirmed her handwriting, but we know virtually nothing about their opinion on the letters, her physical condition or other clues. We are not told whether the shed or hotel room was forensically examined. Her autopsy was conducted quietly and quickly, though a final report is due this week after toxicology results come in.
Palfrey's note used a number of clichéd expressions, strangely including "modern day lynching", referring to the extremely selective enforcement that found her guilty in federal court and a darkly ironic reference to her impending manner of death.
In the note to her sister, she writes "With complete certainty, I believe Dad is standing watch - prepared to guide me into the light". Only a close relation would know if this echoed her true feelings and beliefs, or if the statement was coded to signal a forced hand.
Among Palfrey's known clients were current Louisiana Senator Vitter, former AIDS Czar Randall Tobias, Dick Morris and military-industrial wonk Harlan Ullman, but Dick Cheney's McLean, VA phone number, reported earlier was summarily un-reported after a turnaround by ABC News.
ABC anchor Sam Donaldson has also been a rumored client, along with a law partner of Rudy Giuliani, associates of Jack Abramoff and many more Pentagon, DC and corporate insiders on a list of over 10,000 numbers.
According to early accounts, ABC News correspondent Brian Ross had the exclusive scoop because Palfrey turned over years-long call lists for his staff to verify. After Cheney turned up on the list, the story, already on the ABC website and poised to run on 20/20, suddenly went away.
No explanation has been offered as to why ABC reversed itself. Any mention of Cheney was scrubbed from their website and the 20/20 piece never ran. Vitter and Tobias had already admitted whoring, so the mainstream press continues to carry the DC Madam story without mentioning Cheney, excepting DC blogsman Wayne Madsen, who says his reporting is corroborated by multiple sources, all but daring Cheney to sue. The trial's verdict received little coverage and a scheduled Vitter was never subpoaened.
Then, going into to a weekend news cycle we heard about the hanging, presented as a suicide from the first mention with no investigation. The public was left bereft of details - was it a full autopsy and inquest? Witness statements? Did the Madam check out without leaving behind anything critical of those who hounded her? No mentions left behind about the DOJ Attorney fired after investigating her case?
So we've seen the handwritten notes, but many questions remain. Can Brian Ross (now elevated in the ABC ranks) answer the most basic inquiries about the DC Madam story that never was?
We will, if Brian Ross' can say the words "journalistic integrity" while looking in a mirror. Mr. Ross may wonder himself if Palfrey's death was self-inflicted or a torturous murder, but as long as he withholds the secrets of the ABC/DC johns, I'd wager he's safe from harm. Hint to Mr. Ross: If you need to get a message to your old journalism professors, just say "They made me sign a non-disclosure agreement".
Tarpon Springs authorities could also be instrumental in divulging to the public whether government officials commandeered or influenced their work in any way.
GW is a proud American from NY State, concerned about ethics issues, media manipulation and overconsumption. He has recently changed careers to become an inner city schoolteacher. A firm proponent of curbing overpopulation and international adoption, he hopes to adopt a third child and enjoys history, outsider art, garage rock music and rare/unusual vinyl records.
Showing posts with label Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Show all posts
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Love Connection? Abramoff and the D.C. Madam
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_roger_sh_080504_love_connection_3f_abr.htm
May 5, 2008 at 18:02:44
Love Connection? Abramoff and the D.C. Madam
by Roger Shuler
Recent days have brought two major justice-related stories. Could they be connected? Let's take a look.
First came a guilty plea from former Justice Department official Robert Coughlin on conflict-of-interest charges connected to disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Then came word that Deborah Jeane Palfrey, better known as the D.C. Madam, had apparently committed suicide at her mother's home in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
In Legal Times splendid account of the Coughlin plea, an e-mail exchange between two Abramoff lobbyists is cited. The lobbyists are Kevin Ring and Padgett Wilson, and Ring is telling Wilson about a celebration to honor Justice Department officials who helped bring home $16 million for an Abramoff client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. "Come to the show, baby," Couglin says. Here is how Wilson responds:
"Are there any tickets left?" asked Wilson, now director of governmental affairs for Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. He then submitted: "And as for those DOJ staffers, those guys should get anything they want for the rest of the time they are in office -- opening day tickets, Skins v. Giants, oriental massages, hookers, whatever."
So there you have it: One Abramoff associate indicating to another that prostitutes are to be part of the pay off for Justice Department officials who further the sleazy Team Abramoff cause.
Then a few days later, we learn that Ms. Palfrey, who ran one of the most well known high-end prostitution services in the D.C. area, is found hanging in a shed behind her mother's mobile home.
Does this prove that Palfrey's death was something other than a suicide, which is the official version from Tampa-area law enforcement? No. But could a reasonable mind take these two events and ask, "Is this one heck of a coincidence--the public learns that Abramoff lackies evidently were plying Justice Department officials with hookers and then a few days later one of the D.C. areas most renowned practitioners of the prostitution trade is found dead?"
Time magazine was first out with a story saying Palfrey had discussed the possibility of suicide with a writer named Dan Moldea. "She wasn't going to jail, she told me that very clearly," Moldea said. "She told me she would commit suicide."
But Moldea's account does not square with Palfrey's own words. One Web site presents audio of Palfrey saying she would not commit suicide and that she probably would be a victim of a murder made to look like a suicide.
The Coughlin case also brings to mind the case of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned after getting nabbed in a prostitution-related investigation. Is anyone investigating the possibility that Team Abramoff, and their "friendlies" in the Justice Department, violated federal law regarding the transport of prostitutes over state lines? That's apparently what got Spitzer into doo-doo. What about folks in the Justice Department, the very organization that led the Spitzer organization?
A major theme of the Bush Justice Department scandal has to do with double standards. Actions that become federal crimes when "committed" by a Democrat are ignored when committed by Republicans, or people associated with GOP supporters.
Could a serious investigation into the Coughlin case and the D.C. madam suicide unearth evidence of a particularly noxious double standard?
Here is something else to keep in mind regarding the D.C. madam death: Hanging is a fairly unusual form of suicide for a woman. According to statistics at suicide.org, the two most common methods of suicide for women, by far, are poisons (overdosing, etc.) at 37.8 percent and firearms at 32.4 percent. Hanging, strangulation, and suffocation are grouped together and come in third at 19.7 percent. But if we can assume that true hanging makes up only one-third of that group, it seems that only a little more than 6 percent of female suicides use the method found in the D.C. Madam case.
Note: In our first post on the Coughlin matter, we noted that one news source had identified Coughlin as a member of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section and that he had been involved in the Paul Minor prosecution in Mississippi. A source close to the Minor case tell us that the quote that led to that report was misunderstood. Our source says Coughlin apparently was not part of the Public Integrity Section and had no role in the Minor prosecution.
May 5, 2008 at 18:02:44
Love Connection? Abramoff and the D.C. Madam
by Roger Shuler
Recent days have brought two major justice-related stories. Could they be connected? Let's take a look.
First came a guilty plea from former Justice Department official Robert Coughlin on conflict-of-interest charges connected to disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Then came word that Deborah Jeane Palfrey, better known as the D.C. Madam, had apparently committed suicide at her mother's home in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
In Legal Times splendid account of the Coughlin plea, an e-mail exchange between two Abramoff lobbyists is cited. The lobbyists are Kevin Ring and Padgett Wilson, and Ring is telling Wilson about a celebration to honor Justice Department officials who helped bring home $16 million for an Abramoff client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. "Come to the show, baby," Couglin says. Here is how Wilson responds:
"Are there any tickets left?" asked Wilson, now director of governmental affairs for Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. He then submitted: "And as for those DOJ staffers, those guys should get anything they want for the rest of the time they are in office -- opening day tickets, Skins v. Giants, oriental massages, hookers, whatever."
So there you have it: One Abramoff associate indicating to another that prostitutes are to be part of the pay off for Justice Department officials who further the sleazy Team Abramoff cause.
Then a few days later, we learn that Ms. Palfrey, who ran one of the most well known high-end prostitution services in the D.C. area, is found hanging in a shed behind her mother's mobile home.
Does this prove that Palfrey's death was something other than a suicide, which is the official version from Tampa-area law enforcement? No. But could a reasonable mind take these two events and ask, "Is this one heck of a coincidence--the public learns that Abramoff lackies evidently were plying Justice Department officials with hookers and then a few days later one of the D.C. areas most renowned practitioners of the prostitution trade is found dead?"
Time magazine was first out with a story saying Palfrey had discussed the possibility of suicide with a writer named Dan Moldea. "She wasn't going to jail, she told me that very clearly," Moldea said. "She told me she would commit suicide."
But Moldea's account does not square with Palfrey's own words. One Web site presents audio of Palfrey saying she would not commit suicide and that she probably would be a victim of a murder made to look like a suicide.
The Coughlin case also brings to mind the case of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned after getting nabbed in a prostitution-related investigation. Is anyone investigating the possibility that Team Abramoff, and their "friendlies" in the Justice Department, violated federal law regarding the transport of prostitutes over state lines? That's apparently what got Spitzer into doo-doo. What about folks in the Justice Department, the very organization that led the Spitzer organization?
A major theme of the Bush Justice Department scandal has to do with double standards. Actions that become federal crimes when "committed" by a Democrat are ignored when committed by Republicans, or people associated with GOP supporters.
Could a serious investigation into the Coughlin case and the D.C. madam suicide unearth evidence of a particularly noxious double standard?
Here is something else to keep in mind regarding the D.C. madam death: Hanging is a fairly unusual form of suicide for a woman. According to statistics at suicide.org, the two most common methods of suicide for women, by far, are poisons (overdosing, etc.) at 37.8 percent and firearms at 32.4 percent. Hanging, strangulation, and suffocation are grouped together and come in third at 19.7 percent. But if we can assume that true hanging makes up only one-third of that group, it seems that only a little more than 6 percent of female suicides use the method found in the D.C. Madam case.
Note: In our first post on the Coughlin matter, we noted that one news source had identified Coughlin as a member of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section and that he had been involved in the Paul Minor prosecution in Mississippi. A source close to the Minor case tell us that the quote that led to that report was misunderstood. Our source says Coughlin apparently was not part of the Public Integrity Section and had no role in the Minor prosecution.
Death of 'D.C. Madam' Becomes Rich Ground for Conspiracy
Robalini's Note: Coming to bash the DC Madam conspiracy theory is David Corn, the CIA's main man (along with Mark Cooper) in the establishment left.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353876,00.html
Death of 'D.C. Madam' Becomes Rich Ground for Conspiracy Theory
Thursday , May 01, 2008
By Greg Simmons
WASHINGTON — Police in Tarpon Springs, Fla., said there was "no question" that Deborah Jeane Palfrey committed suicide by hanging Thursday, but that was not enough to stop immediate speculation that the infamous "D.C. Madam" was the victim of murder.
Hustler magazine publisher and free-speech advocate Larry Flynt -- one of Palfrey's staunchest advocates -- was the strongest voice forwarding the notion that Palfrey's death was not by her own hands.
"I think the media should be very cautious in treating this as a suicide," Flynt told FOXNews.com in a telephone interview from his Beverly Hills office.
Asked if he believed Palfrey was murdered, Flynt responded: "I personally believe that's what happened, but I have no proof."
Palfrey was found guilty of federal racketeering charges on April 15 in connection to her prostitution business, Pamela Martin & Associates, which operated out of California but hired Washington, D.C.-area women for its operations.
The case drew wide attention early last year when Palfrey gave media organizations phone numbers of her clients, but not their names, in the hopes that the clients would support her claims that her business was a legitimate escort service.
Flynt was an integral part in keeping Palfrey's story public and worked with her and investigative reporter Dan Moldea to break the story that the phone number of Sen. David Vitter, R-La., was among those numbers in Palfrey's client list. Flynt targeted Vitter because he had campaigned for office on a family-values platform.
Vitter apologized in July 2007 for his name appearing on Palfrey's list, saying, "This was a very serious sin." The senator never explained his relationship to Palfrey's business. His office did not respond on Thursday to a phone message seeking comment.
The Palfrey case also contributed to Randall L. Tobias' resignation from a position at the State Department after a news report identified him as a Pamela Martin client. A receptionist reached Thursday at Tobias' Indianapolis foundation said, "There will be no comment."
Flynt said he met Palfrey around the time of her indictment in March 2007 and discussed her case with her on several occasions.
Palfrey's defense relied on an argument that her business was a "sexual fantasy" business but did not involve paid sex -- at least none that Palfrey was aware of.
But Flynt outright dismissed that notion. Asked if she knowingly sold sex for money, Flynt said there's "no question."
But she also was an intelligent woman, he said.
"She did not have the demeanor of the type of person that would carry certain signs of suicide, like being withdrawn or depressed," Flynt said. "You know, those are the kinds of signs that you look for. She didn't display any of those traits. ... She was very friendly. ... Very bright. She was by no means a dummy. She knew what she was doing."
Flynt said he believes that in her quest to avoid prison time -- her sentencing hearing had been scheduled for July -- Palfrey was prepared to release one or two final names connected to her case.
"She had a lot of names, and I know she was holding on to them for a reason," Flynt said. He said he knew some of the clients' names, and they include big-hitters in the political and media worlds. None of those names came to light, though, because they didn't fit the mold that Flynt was pushing for: politicians who said one thing and did another. Only Vitter, Flynt said, appeared to match that description.
But Flynt hinted at much juicier material to be unearthed.
"Let me put it this way, there were more Democrats on it than Republicans," he said, supporting his theory that the only reason this case was of interest was because of the number of Democrats who could be targeted by the Bush administration.
But Flynt said his conversations with Palfrey were off the record, and if any investigators come knocking on his door for names, they'll have to look elsewhere.
Flynt said the only person who might know more about those conversations with Palfrey is Moldea, who was working with Palfrey on a book. Flynt said he has no financial stake in that book.
While Flynt's version of events might be the most intriguing, they are not the only version. Many believe justice ran its course -- however misguided -- and the case won't have any lasting effect, said David Corn, Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones magazine and a Washington-based journalist who reported on the case.
"I met her once -- and it was not in a sordid fashion -- as a reporter, and I kept asking her, 'You know, if you had any famous, high-profile clients.' And she said, 'Well, not really. A lot of people wouldn't recognize these people anyway,' " Corn recalled on Thursday.
He said it struck him as odd that the prosecution focused on her case, rather than any of the other "escort services" that can be found in the local phone book. Corn said Palfrey seemed to have a "why me?" attitude.
Corn did not question that Palfrey had taken her own life.
"There's a certain sad element to this -- anytime there's a suicide," Corn said. "She went to her grave, her death, not fully understanding why hers became the only escort service to be targeted for such prosecution."
And he said he did not think her death was the result of any sort of conspiracy.
"You hate to say this about anybody, but Jeane's death won't have any consequence to Washington," he said. "She's not taking any secrets with her. She seemed to not have them in the first place."
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Washington did not return a phone call Thursday, and Palfrey's defense attorney, Preston Burton, was not available for comment. He issued a statement through a colleague at his firm, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
"This is tragic news. My heart goes out to her mother," Burton said, according to Orrick attorney John Pitts.
FOX News.com's Catherine Donaldson-Evans contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353876,00.html
Death of 'D.C. Madam' Becomes Rich Ground for Conspiracy Theory
Thursday , May 01, 2008
By Greg Simmons
WASHINGTON — Police in Tarpon Springs, Fla., said there was "no question" that Deborah Jeane Palfrey committed suicide by hanging Thursday, but that was not enough to stop immediate speculation that the infamous "D.C. Madam" was the victim of murder.
Hustler magazine publisher and free-speech advocate Larry Flynt -- one of Palfrey's staunchest advocates -- was the strongest voice forwarding the notion that Palfrey's death was not by her own hands.
"I think the media should be very cautious in treating this as a suicide," Flynt told FOXNews.com in a telephone interview from his Beverly Hills office.
Asked if he believed Palfrey was murdered, Flynt responded: "I personally believe that's what happened, but I have no proof."
Palfrey was found guilty of federal racketeering charges on April 15 in connection to her prostitution business, Pamela Martin & Associates, which operated out of California but hired Washington, D.C.-area women for its operations.
The case drew wide attention early last year when Palfrey gave media organizations phone numbers of her clients, but not their names, in the hopes that the clients would support her claims that her business was a legitimate escort service.
Flynt was an integral part in keeping Palfrey's story public and worked with her and investigative reporter Dan Moldea to break the story that the phone number of Sen. David Vitter, R-La., was among those numbers in Palfrey's client list. Flynt targeted Vitter because he had campaigned for office on a family-values platform.
Vitter apologized in July 2007 for his name appearing on Palfrey's list, saying, "This was a very serious sin." The senator never explained his relationship to Palfrey's business. His office did not respond on Thursday to a phone message seeking comment.
The Palfrey case also contributed to Randall L. Tobias' resignation from a position at the State Department after a news report identified him as a Pamela Martin client. A receptionist reached Thursday at Tobias' Indianapolis foundation said, "There will be no comment."
Flynt said he met Palfrey around the time of her indictment in March 2007 and discussed her case with her on several occasions.
Palfrey's defense relied on an argument that her business was a "sexual fantasy" business but did not involve paid sex -- at least none that Palfrey was aware of.
But Flynt outright dismissed that notion. Asked if she knowingly sold sex for money, Flynt said there's "no question."
But she also was an intelligent woman, he said.
"She did not have the demeanor of the type of person that would carry certain signs of suicide, like being withdrawn or depressed," Flynt said. "You know, those are the kinds of signs that you look for. She didn't display any of those traits. ... She was very friendly. ... Very bright. She was by no means a dummy. She knew what she was doing."
Flynt said he believes that in her quest to avoid prison time -- her sentencing hearing had been scheduled for July -- Palfrey was prepared to release one or two final names connected to her case.
"She had a lot of names, and I know she was holding on to them for a reason," Flynt said. He said he knew some of the clients' names, and they include big-hitters in the political and media worlds. None of those names came to light, though, because they didn't fit the mold that Flynt was pushing for: politicians who said one thing and did another. Only Vitter, Flynt said, appeared to match that description.
But Flynt hinted at much juicier material to be unearthed.
"Let me put it this way, there were more Democrats on it than Republicans," he said, supporting his theory that the only reason this case was of interest was because of the number of Democrats who could be targeted by the Bush administration.
But Flynt said his conversations with Palfrey were off the record, and if any investigators come knocking on his door for names, they'll have to look elsewhere.
Flynt said the only person who might know more about those conversations with Palfrey is Moldea, who was working with Palfrey on a book. Flynt said he has no financial stake in that book.
While Flynt's version of events might be the most intriguing, they are not the only version. Many believe justice ran its course -- however misguided -- and the case won't have any lasting effect, said David Corn, Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones magazine and a Washington-based journalist who reported on the case.
"I met her once -- and it was not in a sordid fashion -- as a reporter, and I kept asking her, 'You know, if you had any famous, high-profile clients.' And she said, 'Well, not really. A lot of people wouldn't recognize these people anyway,' " Corn recalled on Thursday.
He said it struck him as odd that the prosecution focused on her case, rather than any of the other "escort services" that can be found in the local phone book. Corn said Palfrey seemed to have a "why me?" attitude.
Corn did not question that Palfrey had taken her own life.
"There's a certain sad element to this -- anytime there's a suicide," Corn said. "She went to her grave, her death, not fully understanding why hers became the only escort service to be targeted for such prosecution."
And he said he did not think her death was the result of any sort of conspiracy.
"You hate to say this about anybody, but Jeane's death won't have any consequence to Washington," he said. "She's not taking any secrets with her. She seemed to not have them in the first place."
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Washington did not return a phone call Thursday, and Palfrey's defense attorney, Preston Burton, was not available for comment. He issued a statement through a colleague at his firm, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
"This is tragic news. My heart goes out to her mother," Burton said, according to Orrick attorney John Pitts.
FOX News.com's Catherine Donaldson-Evans contributed to this report.
D.C. Madam: Suicide Before Prison
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1736687,00.html
Thursday, May. 01, 2008
D.C. Madam: Suicide Before Prison
By Adam Zagorin/Washington
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the "D.C. Madam," once implied that suicide was cowardice but, in the end, she seems to have chosen that same path herself. "She wasn't going to jail, she told me that very clearly. She told me she would commit suicide," author Dan Moldea told TIME soon after news broke of her body being found in Tarpon Springs, Florida, an apparent suicide. Palfrey's body, along with a handwritten suicide note, was discovered by police in a storage area attached to her mother's mobile home. Palfrey contacted Moldea last year to provide her help writing a book. "She had done time once before [for prostitution]," Moldea recalls. "And it damn near killed her. She said there was enormous stress — it made her sick, she couldn't take it, and she wasn't going to let that happen to her again." Palfrey had been free pending her scheduled July 24 sentencing on a series of racketeering and money laundering charges as part of running a prostitution ring that had as clients many prominent Washingtonians, including Senator David Vitter of Lousiana. She faced as many as 55 years behind bars (though sentencing guidelines could well have limited her prison time to a maximum of 71 months.)
When a former employee of Palfrey's, Brandy Britton, hanged herself before going to trial, Palfrey told the press, "I guess I'm made of something that Brandy Britton wasn't made of."
Palfrey's trial, which concluded in mid-April with a conviction, is one of very few such cases prosecuted in the federal courts. Most prostitution violations are dealt with at the state or municipal level, and attract little publicity. In the Palfrey case, prosecutors obliged a string of obviously embarrassed clients and employees of the escort service to appear on the witness stand and testify under oath. Nearly all testified that they had engaged in sexual acts in exchange for money, a version of events that contradicted Palfrey's claims that she had been running a high-end sexual fantasy service — and that any actual sexual activity was against the rules, and clearly stated when employees were hired.
Palfrey ran her operation — which covered the Washington D.C., Baltimore and northern Virginia area — by telephone from her home in California. Clients would contact her, often in response to advertisements in Washington newspapers and magazines, and she would set them up with women. According to court testimony, Palfrey would sometimes even contact clients for after-action reports to determine whether her employees were doing their job correctly and enthusiastically.
It was Palfrey's phone records that led to problems for prominent Washington figures once her prosecution got under way. She had thousands of pages, including 10,000 to 15,000 numbers of clients calling in to her California residence. Besides Sen. Vitter, others whose names appeared on those records included Randall Tobias, a senior State Department official in charge of foreign aid — who had publicly inveighed against prostitution and who quickly resigned after his name was made public. Harlan Ullman, a well-known military specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, was also identified.
According to Moldea, who last year examined Palfrey's phone records and discovered the name of Vitter, a Republican, as a client of Palfrey's escort servie — Pamela Martin & Associates — the last time he saw Palfrey in person was less than week before her conviction on prostitution charges on April 15. "A friend and I met with Jeanne and we had a sushi lunch near the courtroom," he said. "She was upbeat and hopeful. She felt the prosecution had not made the case and that she was going to walk. She was hopeful to the end." But, when the jury came in with her conviction, she reportedly was taken aback. "When I heard that I knew that, for her, it was all over. There is no question in my mind that she took her own life."
Vitter remains a Senator and has not been censured, despite coming under intense public criticism. Of Palfrey, Moldea said, "I liked her. She was a good person, she was kind, funny, she had a sense of humor, and what she may have done in business, I bring no judgment to that. You have to remember that all those who worked for her service and those who used it — none of them were held to account, or punished. And now, she is dead."
Thursday, May. 01, 2008
D.C. Madam: Suicide Before Prison
By Adam Zagorin/Washington
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the "D.C. Madam," once implied that suicide was cowardice but, in the end, she seems to have chosen that same path herself. "She wasn't going to jail, she told me that very clearly. She told me she would commit suicide," author Dan Moldea told TIME soon after news broke of her body being found in Tarpon Springs, Florida, an apparent suicide. Palfrey's body, along with a handwritten suicide note, was discovered by police in a storage area attached to her mother's mobile home. Palfrey contacted Moldea last year to provide her help writing a book. "She had done time once before [for prostitution]," Moldea recalls. "And it damn near killed her. She said there was enormous stress — it made her sick, she couldn't take it, and she wasn't going to let that happen to her again." Palfrey had been free pending her scheduled July 24 sentencing on a series of racketeering and money laundering charges as part of running a prostitution ring that had as clients many prominent Washingtonians, including Senator David Vitter of Lousiana. She faced as many as 55 years behind bars (though sentencing guidelines could well have limited her prison time to a maximum of 71 months.)
When a former employee of Palfrey's, Brandy Britton, hanged herself before going to trial, Palfrey told the press, "I guess I'm made of something that Brandy Britton wasn't made of."
Palfrey's trial, which concluded in mid-April with a conviction, is one of very few such cases prosecuted in the federal courts. Most prostitution violations are dealt with at the state or municipal level, and attract little publicity. In the Palfrey case, prosecutors obliged a string of obviously embarrassed clients and employees of the escort service to appear on the witness stand and testify under oath. Nearly all testified that they had engaged in sexual acts in exchange for money, a version of events that contradicted Palfrey's claims that she had been running a high-end sexual fantasy service — and that any actual sexual activity was against the rules, and clearly stated when employees were hired.
Palfrey ran her operation — which covered the Washington D.C., Baltimore and northern Virginia area — by telephone from her home in California. Clients would contact her, often in response to advertisements in Washington newspapers and magazines, and she would set them up with women. According to court testimony, Palfrey would sometimes even contact clients for after-action reports to determine whether her employees were doing their job correctly and enthusiastically.
It was Palfrey's phone records that led to problems for prominent Washington figures once her prosecution got under way. She had thousands of pages, including 10,000 to 15,000 numbers of clients calling in to her California residence. Besides Sen. Vitter, others whose names appeared on those records included Randall Tobias, a senior State Department official in charge of foreign aid — who had publicly inveighed against prostitution and who quickly resigned after his name was made public. Harlan Ullman, a well-known military specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, was also identified.
According to Moldea, who last year examined Palfrey's phone records and discovered the name of Vitter, a Republican, as a client of Palfrey's escort servie — Pamela Martin & Associates — the last time he saw Palfrey in person was less than week before her conviction on prostitution charges on April 15. "A friend and I met with Jeanne and we had a sushi lunch near the courtroom," he said. "She was upbeat and hopeful. She felt the prosecution had not made the case and that she was going to walk. She was hopeful to the end." But, when the jury came in with her conviction, she reportedly was taken aback. "When I heard that I knew that, for her, it was all over. There is no question in my mind that she took her own life."
Vitter remains a Senator and has not been censured, despite coming under intense public criticism. Of Palfrey, Moldea said, "I liked her. She was a good person, she was kind, funny, she had a sense of humor, and what she may have done in business, I bring no judgment to that. You have to remember that all those who worked for her service and those who used it — none of them were held to account, or punished. And now, she is dead."
DC Madam Predicted She Would Be Suicided
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/050108_madam_predicted.htm
DC Madam Predicted She Would Be Suicided
"Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," Palfrey wrote - Time Magazine curiously quick to re-affirm suicide story
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, May 1, 2008
DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey predicted she would be "suicided" on several occasions both recently and as far back as 17 years ago - comments that now appear ominous in light of the announcement that the former head of a Washington escort service allegedly killed herself today.
"If taken into custody, my physical safety and most probably my very life would be jeopardized," she wrote in August 1991 following an attempt to bring her to trial, "Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," said Palfrey in a handwritten letter to the judge accusing the San Diego police vice squad of having a vendetta against her.
During several recent appearances on The Alex Jones Show, Palfrey also said that she was at risk of being killed and that authorities would make it look like suicide. She made it clear that she was not suicidal and if she was found dead it would be murder.
Palfrey had threatened to release the names of well-known clients of her upscale call girl ring in the nation's capitol, and had indicated that Dick Cheney may be one of them.
"We now know it goes at least as high as a United States Senator," Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show, "I'm hearing rumors now from other people that there are other possibilities in that stratosphere so to speak, on that level."
"No I'm not planning to commit suicide," Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show on her last appearance in March, "I'm planning on going into court and defending myself vigorously and exposing the government," she said.
"Blanche Palfrey had no sign that her daughter was suicidal, and there was no immediate indication that alcohol or drugs were involved, police Capt. Jeffrey Young said," according to an AP report.
UPDATE: In an almost uncanny development, as soon as this article started to go viral on the Internet, Time Magazine released a story claiming that Palfrey told author Dan Moldea that she would rather commit suicide than go to jail. What a funny coincidence!
DC Madam Predicted She Would Be Suicided
"Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," Palfrey wrote - Time Magazine curiously quick to re-affirm suicide story
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, May 1, 2008
DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey predicted she would be "suicided" on several occasions both recently and as far back as 17 years ago - comments that now appear ominous in light of the announcement that the former head of a Washington escort service allegedly killed herself today.
"If taken into custody, my physical safety and most probably my very life would be jeopardized," she wrote in August 1991 following an attempt to bring her to trial, "Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," said Palfrey in a handwritten letter to the judge accusing the San Diego police vice squad of having a vendetta against her.
During several recent appearances on The Alex Jones Show, Palfrey also said that she was at risk of being killed and that authorities would make it look like suicide. She made it clear that she was not suicidal and if she was found dead it would be murder.
Palfrey had threatened to release the names of well-known clients of her upscale call girl ring in the nation's capitol, and had indicated that Dick Cheney may be one of them.
"We now know it goes at least as high as a United States Senator," Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show, "I'm hearing rumors now from other people that there are other possibilities in that stratosphere so to speak, on that level."
"No I'm not planning to commit suicide," Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show on her last appearance in March, "I'm planning on going into court and defending myself vigorously and exposing the government," she said.
"Blanche Palfrey had no sign that her daughter was suicidal, and there was no immediate indication that alcohol or drugs were involved, police Capt. Jeffrey Young said," according to an AP report.
UPDATE: In an almost uncanny development, as soon as this article started to go viral on the Internet, Time Magazine released a story claiming that Palfrey told author Dan Moldea that she would rather commit suicide than go to jail. What a funny coincidence!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Flynt is tracking congressional sex scandal leads
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/flynt-is-tracking-20-congressional-sex-scandal-leads-2007-07-11.html
Flynt is tracking 20 congressional sex scandal leads
By Elana Schor
July 11, 2007
Larry Flynt, the porn-industry magnate who first linked Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) to the escort service of the “D.C. Madam,” said Wednesday that his investigators are tracking more than 20 leads on alleged congressional sex scandals.
As Vitter remained missing in action for two Senate votes on defense policy, Flynt insisted that he exposed the conservative lawmaker’s sexual indiscretions only because they contradicted Vitter’s longtime defense of the “sanctity of marriage.”
“If someone’s living a life contrary to the way they’re advocating ... then they become fair game,” Flynt told reporters. “I don’t want a man like that legislating for me, especially in the area of morality.”
In addition to the phone records of “D.C. Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey, accused of prostitution and racketeering by federal authorities, Flynt is mining responses to an ad he placed last month in The Washington Post. The ad promised a million-dollar reward for anyone providing evidence of illicit encounters with members of Congress.
The 20-plus new leads, Flynt said, come from the newspaper ad and not Palfrey. The Hustler publisher, arrested and jailed multiple times during his decades-long career, vowed to provide clear proof and only out lawmakers whom he perceives to be hypocrites.
“You guys always know, [from] the past, I deliver,” Flynt said. “And if I fail to, the mainstream media will crush me like a bug.”
The Vitter scandal has touched off new anxiety among Republicans over whether their party will pay the price for members who fail to live up to their moral principles. Flynt, an unabashed Democrat, acknowledged that the GOP provides him with easier targets.
“Republicans are more fun because they get caught so easily,” Flynt said. “They’ve been living a repressed life all their life. Democrats are liberal — they wear it on their sleeve. Their sex life is what it is. They don’t spend their whole life trying to cover it up.”
Flynt released the particular wireless phone bill containing Vitter’s phone number on Palfrey’s calling list, confirming that the Louisianan contacted the escort service while serving in the House. Flynt also claimed to have testimony from five New Orleans prostitutes about their sexual encounters with Vitter, adding that that quintet would likely share the $1 million bounty with Palfrey.
Flynt is tracking 20 congressional sex scandal leads
By Elana Schor
July 11, 2007
Larry Flynt, the porn-industry magnate who first linked Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) to the escort service of the “D.C. Madam,” said Wednesday that his investigators are tracking more than 20 leads on alleged congressional sex scandals.
As Vitter remained missing in action for two Senate votes on defense policy, Flynt insisted that he exposed the conservative lawmaker’s sexual indiscretions only because they contradicted Vitter’s longtime defense of the “sanctity of marriage.”
“If someone’s living a life contrary to the way they’re advocating ... then they become fair game,” Flynt told reporters. “I don’t want a man like that legislating for me, especially in the area of morality.”
In addition to the phone records of “D.C. Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey, accused of prostitution and racketeering by federal authorities, Flynt is mining responses to an ad he placed last month in The Washington Post. The ad promised a million-dollar reward for anyone providing evidence of illicit encounters with members of Congress.
The 20-plus new leads, Flynt said, come from the newspaper ad and not Palfrey. The Hustler publisher, arrested and jailed multiple times during his decades-long career, vowed to provide clear proof and only out lawmakers whom he perceives to be hypocrites.
“You guys always know, [from] the past, I deliver,” Flynt said. “And if I fail to, the mainstream media will crush me like a bug.”
The Vitter scandal has touched off new anxiety among Republicans over whether their party will pay the price for members who fail to live up to their moral principles. Flynt, an unabashed Democrat, acknowledged that the GOP provides him with easier targets.
“Republicans are more fun because they get caught so easily,” Flynt said. “They’ve been living a repressed life all their life. Democrats are liberal — they wear it on their sleeve. Their sex life is what it is. They don’t spend their whole life trying to cover it up.”
Flynt released the particular wireless phone bill containing Vitter’s phone number on Palfrey’s calling list, confirming that the Louisianan contacted the escort service while serving in the House. Flynt also claimed to have testimony from five New Orleans prostitutes about their sexual encounters with Vitter, adding that that quintet would likely share the $1 million bounty with Palfrey.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
GOP senator admits link to escort service
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/4850.html
GOP senator admits link to escort service
By: Carrie Budoff
July 9, 2007
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) acknowledged Monday night that his number appears on telephone records of the alleged D.C. Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, and issued an apology.
“This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible,” Vitter said in a statement released by his office.
“Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling,'' he 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.”
Vitter did not disclose exactly when the incidents took place, but said it was before he ran for the Senate in 2004.
Vitter, 46, then became Louisiana’s first Republican senator since the end of Reconstruction and has built a reputation as a solid conservative, opposing abortion rights, same-sex marriage and gun control. Last month, he took a leading role in efforts to kill the comprehensive immigration overhaul bill.
A Harvard graduate and former Rhodes Scholar, he was elected to the House in 1999, filling the seat vacated by Rep. Bob Livingston, who was headed toward the House speakership in 1998 when he was forced to reveal his marital infidelities.
In 2000, Vitter was included in a Newhouse News Service story about the strain of congressional careers on families.
His wife, Wendy, was asked by the Newhouse reporter: If her husband were as unfaithful as Livingston or former President Bill Clinton, would she be as forgiving as Hillary Rodham Clinton?
“I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,” Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. “If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”
“I think fear is a very good motivating factor in a marriage,” she added. “Don’t put fear down.”
Vitter’s revelation Monday comes a month after Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered $1 million for information about illicit sexual relations with members of Congress. Flynt made a same pitch in October 1998, playing a role in Livingston's outing.
Palfrey posted the complete phone records of her client list on the Internet Monday night. The list for Pamela Martin and Associates dates back to 1994.
She is accused of running a prostitution ring catering to Washington’s elite. She faces federal racketeering and conspiracy charges based on allegations that she earned $2 million operating a prostitution service from 1993 to 2006.
Palfrey, however, has said that her company was a legal operation that offered sexual fantasy services.
Her lawyer, Montgomery Sibley Blair, began distributing copies of the phone records to the media last week after a judge lifted an injunction that had previously prevented Palfrey from doing so.
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