A federal jury Tuesday found the woman known as the D.C. Madam guilty of four crimes connected with running a prostitution ring that had snared clients including a U.S. senator and top government officials.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, wearing her trademark candy apple red lipstick, sighed as the verdict was read.

Palfrey, 52, faces a maximum sentence of 50 years, but is likely to be incarcerated no more than six years, according to prosecutors. She will remain free until her sentencing July 24. Palfrey declined to comment as she walked stone-faced in black leather boots out of the U.S. District Courthouse in D.C.

Palfrey has maintained that her business was a high-end “sexual fantasy” escort service that prohibited its girls from engaging in prostitution. Her attorney argued that Palfrey did not tell the escorts to have sex with the clients, and that they   individually chose to have sex after it was requested by dates.

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But the jury rejected Palfrey’s defense, taking about a day to convict Palfrey on complex charges of racketeering, money laundering and using the U.S. mail to run an illegal business.

The D.C. Madam caused a stir last year when she released thousands of pages of phone records to news organizations. Caught up in the case were Sen. David Vitter, R-La., military strategist Harlan Ullman and Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias, among others.

There was much anticipation that the high-profile clients would be called to the witnesses stand, dubbed by one prosecutor as “the hottest seat in D.C.”

Instead, the prosecution called three clients and 13 escorts, most of whom admitted to exchanging money for sex.

The lone exception was a woman who quit after Palfrey called her “a nitwit” when the woman complained that a client wanted her to have sex.

One casualty of the investigation was Navy Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Dickinson, who admitted to having sex with men who paid her $250-$300 on the side while she was employed as an ethics and leadership instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.  

Testimony by women like Dickinson appeared to seal Palfrey’s fate. Men do not pay $250 for 90 minutes of casual conversation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Butler told the jury. “It’s not rocket science,” Butler said. “There’s no question prostitution was going on here.”

smccabe@dcexaminer.com