Alleged Madam Accused of Harassing Witnesses

The alleged D.C. madam warned prosecutors that she wasn't someone to tangle with, and now, prosecutors argue, she's trying to intimidate former employees and clients of her upscale escort service who could testify against her.

In court filings unsealed yesterday, prosecutors detailed what they consider a pattern of harassment and threatening behavior by Deborah Jeane Palfrey and her attorney since she learned last year that a grand jury was investigating her Washington-based escort service.

Palfrey, 50, ran Pamela Martin and Associates in the Washington area for 13 years until it closed in August, and she claims it was an elite escort service that provided legal services. The U.S. attorney's office claims that Palfrey, of Vallejo, Calif., was operating a high-end prostitution ring in the Washington area, and she was indicted last month on federal racketeering charges.

Prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler to issue an order "to prevent the serious and ongoing harassment of witnesses who may have provided information to law enforcement officers or testified as part of the Grand Jury's investigation."

In their court papers, prosecutors cited an e-mail that Palfrey sent them earlier this year in which she called herself a "ferocious fighter" and warned of a "very long and unpleasant" battle if they pursued charges against her.

Prosecutors also cited a civil lawsuit Palfrey filed recently against an alleged employee as well as her much-publicized efforts to sell or release a list of 10,000 supposed clients. And they contended that Palfrey's attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, filed dubious lawsuits in similar cases in Florida to harass witnesses during criminal investigations of other clients and was sanctioned by the Florida Supreme Court.

In one Florida case, according to prosecutors, Sibley represented an escort-service operator who was known by the nickname "Big Pimping Pappy." In that case, Sibley helped sue men who had used the escort service. He asserted in the suit that individuals who engaged in sexual activity for money had breached contracts with the business by breaking a promise not to break the law, prosecutors said.

Palfrey's civil suit, filed by Sibley in U.S. District Court against one alleged escort and 15 unnamed escorts, has some parallels to the Florida litigation. Palfrey claims the women breached their contract by providing illegal sexual services without her knowledge.

Sibley said in a telephone interview yesterday that he refuses to "practice law on my knees" and would continue to aggressively advocate for his client's legal rights. He acknowledged that he has been barred from appearing in some Florida courts but said it is a complicated matter that is still being litigated and has no relationship to the Palfrey case.

"The government is resorting to ad hominem attacks on me," he said. "The issue is what is the federal government doing raising these arguments -- but trying to smear me before the court and the press?"

Kessler, who issued a temporary restraining order last week to keep Palfrey and her attorney from selling the client list and moving ahead with the civil suit, will hear arguments Thursday on whether she should make that order permanent.