DC Madam: ABC News "Did A Tremendous Disservice To The American People"

The latest email from Deborah Jeane Palfrey, aka the 'DC Madam,' mentions her deal with ABC News: Simultaneously, during the period when the decision to take the records off the market was made, Senior Executive Producer Rhonda Schwartz for Brian Ross, of ABC News, in New York approached Mr. Sibley and me about the records. Told ABC News "does not pay for information", they nonetheless would incur in our circumstance the expense of culling the billing invoices for possible witnesses, leads and general information, which ultimately could be beneficial to my defense. Having gotten estimates at the time for the cost to research and back-track telephone numbers, along with subsequent owner data (tens of thousands of dollars), we gladly accepted ABC's offer of assistance. In return, ABC asked that they be given exclusivity regarding the first public interview with me and more importantly, all of the phone records for years 1993 to 2006. While the laborious task of copying and transferring the enormous amount of data to ABC was ongoing, the Government went to Judge Kessler, ex parte (without the presence OR knowledge of my criminal defense attorney at the time, Mr. A.J. Kramer) and obtained the current restraining order prohibiting either my civil counsel, Mr. Sibley or me from further distribution of the records. The Government's justification for the temporary injunction was witness harassment and intimidation -- having abandoned its prior rationalization, i.e. asset forfeiture. Consequently, ABC received ONLY 80% of years 2002 thru 2006. Contrary to popular belief, they never had a complete set of all 13 years. In the final analysis, it really didn't matter whether ABC had 4 years or 13, their constant assurances and reassurances to Mr. Sibley and me that they could be trusted with my story -- for the almost two months they researched 2002 to 2006 -- fell flat on May 4, 2007, when the much hyped, sweep's week 20/20 broadcast failed to deliver even one revelation; this despite, a major ad campaign blitz on the part of the network to the contrary. Both Mr. Sibley and I can attest to the fact -- having been an integral part of the 7 1/2 week vetting process -- that there were and are noteworthy names to be named, in the four years. Why ABC chose to jump ship seemingly at the eleventh hour would be pure speculation, here. The bottom line is that they did and by doing so, they did a tremendous disservice to the American people.

Fishbowl

DC Madam: ABC News "Did A Tremendous Disservice To The American People"

Patrick

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