Deborah Jeane Palfrey (March 18, 1956 -- May 1, 2008)(dubbed the D.C. Madam by the news media) operated Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort agency in Washington, D.C. Although she argued that the company's services were legal, she was convicted on April 15, 2008 of racketeering and money laundering. Slightly over two weeks later, facing a prison sentence of five or six years, she was found dead. Authorities have described her death as an apparent suicide.
