Apr 30, 2007 1:00 pm US/Pacific
Alleged Madam Insists She Had To Out U.S. Official
WASHINGTON (CBS News) ―
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Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who allegedly ran an upscale escort service, appeared outside federal court after her arraignment in Washington on federal racketeering charges March 9, 2007. (File)
AP
A woman apologized Monday for outing a former top State Department official as a client of her escort service but said it was necessary to prove her company was doing legal business.
A federal grand jury indicted Deborah Jeane Palfrey in March on charges of running a high-class call girl ring in the nation's capital from her home in Vallejo, Calif. She maintains the escort service did not engage in prostitution.
Palfrey said she turned over phone records to ABC News hoping the documents would unveil thousands of clients, such as Randall Tobias.
Palfrey is hoping Tobias and other individuals will be witnesses who can refute charges that she ran a "sex for sale" operation by phone from a house near San Francisco, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
The government charges Palfrey worked as a prostitution broker, putting callers from the D.C. area in touch with available escorts – more than a 130 women over 13 years, Orr adds.
Tobias, who resigned Friday as head of the Bush administration's foreign aid programs, confirmed to ABC News that he used Palfrey's escort firm, Pamela Martin & Associates, but said he only received legal services such as massages.
Prosecutors have accused Palfrey of seeking to intimidate witnesses by outing them publicly.
Palfrey's civil attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, said he does not know how many people will be outed by ABC, which is planning to air a report Friday on its "20/20" newsmagazine.
During Monday's hearing, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered a new attorney be appointed for Palfrey, citing irreconcilable differences between her and public defender A.J. Cramer.
Kessler denied a request to appoint a specific lawyer requested by Palfrey. The judge said Palfrey will no longer have to wear an electronic monitoring device that had been a condition of her pretrial release. She will be required to check in with court officials by phone three times a week.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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