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WASHINGTON : The so-called "DC Madam" accused of running an upscale Washington escort agency has expressed regret for a high-ranking government official who resigned after admitting he was one of her clients.
But she vowed on Monday that thousands more names would be revealed unless charges against her were dropped.
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who is facing charges of running a 300-dollar-an-hour prostitution service for 13 years, appeared in a Washington court on Monday for a preliminary hearing.
Palfrey denies doing anything illegal through her business Pamela Martin & Associates, but has said she has a record of the phone numbers of thousands of customers that could embarrass more than a few of the US capital's high-fliers.
On Friday the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Randall Tobias, resigned for personal reasons, but ABC news said he stepped down after the network contacted him about using the service.
"Tobias was a customer of my previous business, Pamela Martin & Associates," Palfrey confirmed on Monday.
"Allow me to say how genuinely sorry I am for Mr. Tobias, his family and his friends," Palfrey told reporters outside the courtroom.
Just the same, Palfrey promised that her telephone records - all 46 pounds (20 kilograms) of them - would be revealed unless the charges against her were dropped.
Palfrey, 50, appeared in court Monday in a somber mood matched by a dark-blue suit and simple hair style. Her bright red lipstick was the only decorative touch as she sat at the defence table.
Palfrey argued she had no funds available as her three homes and several cars had been seized by the government.
Judge Gladys Kessler tossed out her civil lawyer, replaced him with a public defender whom Palfrey rejected and then denied her motion that the government cough up 150,000 dollars to pay the lawyer of her choice.
In a small victory, Kessler ordered the removal of an electronic monitoring anklet that a court had forced Palfrey to wear so she would not flee from another case in California.
"I got the electronic monitor off, so things are going in the right direction," Palfrey told AFP.
She has maintained that her business offered legal "sexual fantasies," not sex, as one of many so-called escort services that fill a dozen or so pages of Washington telephone directories.
Palfrey claims her "girls" were private contractors and if they engaged in illegal sex for money, she said, it was without her approval.
If she must defend herself, Palfrey said, she will use the phone records as a witness list.
"I'm sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone four to eight years, because I'm shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever," Palfrey told ABC, which will air an interview Friday.
"I'll bring in every last one of them if necessary."
Palfrey said she did her best to keep the names private, but "it was only when government attorneys...refused every reasonable offer...did I make the determination to utilise the records for my defence."
She said Tobias's admission to having used her services was evidence in her favour, because he, too, said he did nothing wrong.
"I am dismayed, however, by Mr Tobias's refusal to come forward until now with this extremely valuable exculpatory evidence.
"Had he done so earlier along with the many, many others who have used my company's services throughout the years, I most likely would not be in my current position," she said.
Her lawyer, Montgomery Sibley, put it more bluntly: "We are looking for witnesses." - AFP/ch
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