‘D.C. Madame’ Found Hanged

02May08

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, aka the “D.C. Madam” has turned her last trick—on herself.

The notorious hooker to political stars was found dead in Florida Thursday, according to Tarpon Springs police, CNN reported.

Palfrey was convicted April 15 for money laundering, racketeering and mail fraud via a high-powered prostitution ring; and faced a maximum 55-year prison term at her sentencing, scheduled for July 24.

The madame hanged herself in a small storage shed on her mother’s property where she had been staying. Her 76-year-old mother found the body.

Prosecutors estimated she would have received a sentence between 57-71 months, about six years, because of sentencing guidelines and other factors that would have been taken into account. ‘I’m looking at 55 years in a federal penitentiary and at my age that is virtually a life sentence,’ Palfrey told CNN Radio in March. ‘Realistically we estimate between 8 and 15 years. I’m also looking at the complete forfeiture of my entire life savings and work.’

Palfrey told ABC News last year she would never return to prison, after serving time in the 1990s for other prostitution-related charges. “I sure as heck am not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone, you know, four to eight years.”

“She wasn’t going to jail, she told me that very clearly. She told me she would commit suicide,” author Dan Moldea told TIME soon after news broke of her body being found in Tarpon Springs, Florida, an apparent suicide.