As the Agatha Christie character Hercule Poroit would say,
"The pigeons, they are coming home to the roost !"
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iht.com
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Alleged Washington prostitution ring madam lists name in court filings
The Associated Press
Published: April 13, 2007
McLEAN, Virginia: A woman charged with running a prostitution ring in the U.S. capital city made good on her threat to identify high-profile clients, listing a military strategist known for his "shock and awe" combat theories as a regular customer in court documents.
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who is acting as her own attorney, said Harlan K. Ullman, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "is only one of dozens of such officials" who will be exposed as she prepares her defense.
Ullman declined to talk about the claim in a brief telephone interview with The Associated Press Thursday night, saying "the allegations are beneath the dignity of a comment."
The 50-year-old Palfrey was indicted last month by a federal grand jury on charges of running a high-class call girl ring from her home in Vallejo, California.
Palfrey had threatened to sell phone records that would identify 10,000 clients to pay for her criminal defense, but a federal judge ordered her not to release them. But Palfrey gave them to ABC News before the order took effect.
Since federal officials have seized her assets in a civil case involving the business, Palfrey argued in court papers Thursday for the judge to reconsider her request for $500,000 (€371,000) to hire an attorney to replace the public defender.
She contends that she needs a high-profile attorney because of the powerful forces that are lined up against her and her need to subpoena Ullman and others.
>>>> Palfrey hopes the customers will testify on her behalf that her escorts did not engage in prostitution. <<<<
Prosecutors have accused Palfrey of trying to intimidate potential witnesses by exposing them publicly.
Ullman's lawyer, Mike Mukasey, also declined comment.
Ullman was the primary author of a 1996 report that coined the phrase "shock and awe," which calls for a massive attack of precision air power that psychologically destroys an enemy's will to fight as much as it destroys the physical ability to fight. |
