It’s the story that has the potential to become the most amusing Washington scandal in decades. A woman is accused of running a high-class call girl business. She has a list of her customers, rumored to be among the elite members of Washington society, and the list is up for sale:
Deborah Jeane Palfrey pleaded not guilty yesterday to running a call-girl service for the well-heeled in Washington. Then she departed the federal courthouse in round dark sunglasses. Photographers and TV cameras swirled around her; reporters barked queries about her clients. Who were they?
But the alleged madam said nothing, clutching her lawyer’s right arm with a black gloved hand as they strolled away.
She just smiled a little. Her lipstick: ruby red.
C’mon, who were they?
“The clientele was upscale and came from the more refined walks of life here in the nation’s capital,” was all Palfrey would say later about the men who partook of her company’s services. If you want to know more, you’ll have to pay, said her attorney. Palfrey has put the phone records of her defunct escort firm up for sale — 46 pounds of them, about 10,000 client phone numbers dating to 1993 — to help defray her legal expenses.
“We’ve had at least a dozen offers for exclusivity to the list,” said the lawyer, Montgomery Blair Sibley. Bidders include media outlets that regularly practice “checkbook journalism,” he said, and others that are considered “the gold standard” of the profession.
“Cash offers,” said Sibley, naming no names or prices.
To hear Palfrey tell it, she was running a completely legitimite business:
“I owned and operated a local out-call adult services agency . . . as a legal, high-end erotic fantasy service,” Palfrey said, glancing up at the cameras. The business, Pamela Martin & Associates, “functioned as a legal fantasy concern,” meaning that the hanky-panky, as far as Palfrey knew, was strictly legit — just erotic game playing, $275 for 90 minutes.
“One Price Policy,” her ads used to read.
“No Hidden Fees. . . . Best selection and availability before 9 p.m. each evening. . . . Cash or traveler’s checks only.”
Before being hired, the women (”subcontractors,” as she described them) agreed in writing to abide by the law, Palfrey said. If any of them engaged in sex acts for the money, she said, it wasn’t her fault.
The business, which closed last fall, employed about 130 women in 13 years, Sibley said. He said Palfrey and those perfumed subcontractors split the fees.
“Each woman was furnished with guidelines explaining the difference between legal and illegal conduct,” Palfrey said. “No promises or claims were ever made to a client that he should expect the associate to perform illegal acts for hire.”
Yea sure.
Like I said, this is gonna be fun.
