Brian Ross Reports on the D.C. Madam: Read the Complete Transcript

May 4, 2007 — -- Jeane Palfrey: Good evening. May I help you?

This is the voice men heard ...

Jeane Palfrey: We have wonderful young ladies on staff ...

... when they called the Washington escort service run by the woman now known as the D.C. Madam.

Jeane Palfrey: We charge a flat 275 for an hour and a half. Were you looking to perhaps book an appointment this evening? How may I help you? And then we would take it from there.

Her name is Jeane Palfrey and over the course of 13 years, she says she fielded thousands of calls from some of Washington's most prominent men.

Men who answered ads for what was known as Pamela Martin and Associates, offering sophisticated, college-educated, attractive women.

Jeane Palfrey: I always defined it as "the Ann Taylor look." I wanted to make sure that they had that certain look. That they could walk into the Hay-Adams, for example, and not be questioned.

It was as upscale as it could be, and the business thrived.

Jeane Palfrey: The Four Seasons, the Mayflower.

Brian Ross: And your gals, as you call them, could walk in there and not be spotted by hotel security as ...

Jeane Palfrey: Not at all, not at all. These were not cheap women. These are very nice women who just needed to make a few extra dollars.

One was a professor at the University of Maryland. There was a successful real estate agent, even a lieutenant commander in the Navy.

Sometimes when Palfrey was unavailable, a legal secretary at one of Washington's top law firms, Akin Gump, would handle the calls as well as go out on calls herself.

Using her e-mail account at Akin Gump, the secretary told Palfrey why she wanted to be an escort: "A day a week would be fun and spa money."

Brian Ross: But were these women proud of what they did for you?

Jeane Palfrey: I don't think they were ashamed.

Brian Ross: You don't think so.

Jeane Palfrey: Oh, no. No, no, no, no.

The D.C. Madam actually ran her business across the country from Washington, out of her elegantly restored period home in Solano County, California.

The calls from Washington were forwarded to an extension in her laundry room.

Jeane Palfrey: Sometimes the washer and dryer were going, and if it was too loud, I'd leave and go into the other room.

Brian Ross: All from right here?

Jeane Palfrey: All from right here.

Brian Ross: This is all it takes to run an escort service?