WASHINGTON'S ELITE

In a report highly anticipated among Washington's elite political scene, ABC said the names "just aren't newsworthy" enough to be released. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the DC Madam, had handed phone records over to ABC that would lead to the identification of all her service's clients.

The network said the list included chief executives, officials from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, US space agency NASA and five military officers, yet did not provide any new names - a surprising reprieve for the many clients whose lawyers had reportedly called Palfrey in the hopes that some arrangement could be worked out.

Only two names had previously been released, one of which was Randall Tobias, a deputy secretary of state responsible for US foreign aid and international development, who resigned last week after his name was revealed. The other, Harlan K. Ullman, is a consultant for the Defence Department.

Palfrey has been charged with running a prostitution ring - out of an apartment in California - but in the interview with ABC said none of her actions had been illegal and threatened to expose all her clients, expecting them to testify in order to keep her out of jail.

"I will bring every last one of them in if it's necessary," she said.

Palfrey said many of the women she employed were college graduates, and insisted that none of them were paid for sex. Instead they received 275 dollars for 90 minutes to attend functions with the clients - what Palfrey called "fantasy sex."

"We are not talking about selling their bodies. We are talking about selling services," she said.

ABC's news correspondent Brian Ross said many of the people who used the service held positions of some authority in and outside of Washington, but added that their names were, frankly, "dull" and unrecognizable to the public.