'DC Madam' Guilty, Guilty, Guilty

Palfrey faces 55 years on racketeering, money-laundering convictions
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 15, 2008 2:54 PM CDT
'DC Madam' Guilty, Guilty, Guilty
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, charged in federal court with running a prostitution ring through her escort service, Pamela Martin & Associates, walks to a news conference on Monday, April 30, 2007.    (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Rejecting the defense that she didn't know her escorts were having sex with clients, a federal jury convicted the "DC Madam," who, WTOP–FM reports, met today's verdict with a sigh. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, whose prostitution-ring bust implicated Washington highbrows, including a Louisiana senator, faces up to 55 years on racketeering and money-laundering charges at her sentencing in July.

"When a man agrees to pay $250 for 90 minutes with a woman, what do most men expect in that time?" asked a prosecutor during closing arguments. Palfrey's attorney likened punishing her to punishing a taxi dispatcher for "the route the cab driver took," the AP reports. (More Deborah Jeane Palfrey stories.)

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