Report: 'DC Madam' Commits Suicide

By John Bresnahan

(The Politico)  Deborah Palfrey, who earned notoriety as the "D.C. Madam,: has reportedly committed suicide while visiting her mother in Florida, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Palfrey was convicted last month of running a prostitution ring.

Palfrey had threatened to expose lawmakers and other powerful politicos for using her "escort" service, but in the end, only a few prominent officials were caught up in the scandal. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) publicly apologized after his number appeared in Palfrey's telephone records. Randall Tobias, a former senior State Department official, resigned his position after admitting to being a Palfrey client. ABC News claimed to have found telephone numbers "linked to corporate CEOs, military officers, lobbyists and officials of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and NASA," but these names never surfaced publicly.

A federal judge refused to allow Palfrey's attorneys to call Vitter and Tobias as witnesses during her trial, and a federal jury refused to believe Palfrey's claim that she did not know the escorts she provided had sex her customers.

Palfrey was 52.