Friday, September 1, 2017

Various Famous Sex Scandals In The United States

After much research, I developed a list of people who were involved in sex scandals since the 1970's. This does not include everyone, but I will be updating this from time to time. But what I have compiled, I believe makes for interesting reading.

Politicians Brought Down By Sex Scandals

Wilbur Mills: A powerful Democratic U.S. Congressman, and chairman of the House ways and Means Committee in the 1960's, and a brief candidate for President in 1972. Mills served in Congress from 1939 to 1977. He was involved with an Argentine stripper named Fanne Fox. In October of 1974, Mills was involved in an traffic incident at 2 a.m. in Washington DC, when police pulled him over for not having his lights on. He was drunk, and his face was cut from a scuffle with his passenger, Fanne Fox. When police approached the car, Fox leaped from the car and either fell or jumped into a nearby Tida Basin in an attempt to escape. She was rescued by police and taken to a nearby mental hospital for evaluation. Despite the scandal, Mills was re-elected to Congress in November of 1974. A few weeks later Mills, seemingly drunk, Mills was accompanied by Fox's husband on stage at a burlesque house, and received a kiss from the stripper. Soon after, Mills stepped down from his congressional chairmanship, and did not seek re-election in 1976. Soon afterwards, he joined Alcoholics Anonymous in West Palm Florida. He died in 1992.

Wayne L Hayes:
A U.S. Democratic Congressman from 1948 to 1976. In May of 1976, the Washington Post broke the story quoting Elizabeth Ray, Hay's former secretary, saying that Hay's hired her on his staff, and later gave her a raise to be part of the staff of the House Administration Committee, for two years in order to serve as his mistress. Hays had divorced his first wife of 38 years just months prior, and married his Ohio office secretary Pat Peak, in early 1976, shortly before the scandal broke. Ray admitted, "I can't type. I can't file. I can't even answer the phone." Ray even let a reporter listen in as the Ohio Congressman told her on the phone that his recent marriage would not affect their arrangement. Time Magazine reported Elizabeth Ray choose to tell her story after Hays decided to marry Pat Peak and did not invite her to the wedding. "I was good enough to be his mistress but not good enough to be invited to his wedding." Three days later, Hays admitted to most of the allegations on the House floor, denying only that Miss Ray's federal salary was awarded solely for sexual services. She was not, Hays insisted, "hired to be my mistress." He resigned as chairman of the House Administration Committee on June 18, 1976, and then resigned from Congress on September 1, 1976. Hays died in 1989.

Robert Bauman:
A Republican U.S. Congressman elected in a special election in August of 1973, replacing Congressman William Mills who committed suicide the previous May. On October 3, 1980, while running for re-election, Bauman was charged with attempting to solicit sex from a 16 year old male prostitute. After the charges were made public, Bauman said he was suffering from alcoholism, entered himself in a court supervised rehabilitation program, which, upon successful completion, resulted in the charges being dropped. Bauman stated that he would continue his re-election campaign, and apologized to the voters for his mistake. He was defeated by Democrat Roy Dyson on November 5, 1980. Dyson was not considered a serious contender for the seat before the charges were filed against Bauman. Bauman published a book in 1986 titled: The Gentleman from Maryland: The conscience of a Gay Conservative.

Dan Crane:
A Republican U.S. Congressman from 1979 to 1985. After his 1982 re-election, he was implicated along with U.S. Congressman Gerry Studds in the 1983 Congressional page sex scandal. Crane was accused of having a consensual sexual relationship in 1980 with a 17 year old female congressional page, and was censured by the Congress in 1983. Crane admitted to the charge and issued a tearful apology. He was defeated for re-election in 1984, and returned to dentistry.

Gerry Studds:
A Democratic Congressman from 1973 to 1997, he was the first openly gay national politician in the U.S. He was censored by Congress in 1983 after admitting he had an affair with a 17 year old page in 1980. He died in 2006.

Brock Adams: A Democratic Congressman from 1965 to 1977, he was chairman during the 94th Congress of the newly created Budget Committee. In 1992, The Seattle Times alleged that Adams had committed various acts of sexual misconduct, ranging from sexual misconduct to rape. Adams denied the allegations, but his popularity statewide was weakened considerably from the scandal, and he choose to retire rather than risk losing the seat for his party. He died in 2004.

Barney Frank: A Democratic U.S. Congressman since 1981, he became the second openly gay member of Congress. A 1990 investigation by the House Ethics Committee was prompted by Steve Gobie, a male hustler Frank befriended and housed, who attempted to profit on his allegation that Frank knew he was using his home to have sex with clients. Frank confirmed that he had once paid Gobie for sex, hired him with personal funds as an aide and wrote letters on Congressional stationary on his behalf to Virginia state probation officials, but Frank said he fired Gobie when he learned that prostitution clients were visiting his apartment. Two years later Gobie tried unsuccessfully to sell his story to The Washington Post. Gobie then gave his story to the Washington Times for nothing, in hopes of getting a book deal for the male version of the Mayflower Madam. After the investigation, the committee found no evidence that Frank had known of or been involved in the illegal activity and dismissed all of Gobie's more scandalous claims. The Committee recommended a reprimand for Frank for using his office to fix 33 of Gobie's parking tickets. Frank is still serving in Congress.

Bob Packwood: A Republican U.S. Senator from 1969 to 1995, his political career started unraveling in 1992 when a Washington Post story detailed the claims of sexual abuse and assault by ten women, who were former staff and lobbyist. Publication of the story was delayed until after the election, as Packwood had denied the allegations and the Post had not gathered enough information for the story to be printed at the time. Packwood won the election. As the story unfolded, Packwood's diary became an issue. Speculation over whether the diary could be subpoenaed and whether it was protected by the fifth amendment's protection against self-incrimination ensued. Packwood did turn over 5000 pages to the Senate Ethics Committee, but declined when the committee demanded the other 3200 pages. It was discovered that Packwood had edited the diary, removing what were alleged references to sexual encounters and sexual abuse allegations against him. Packwood then made what his colleagues interpreted as threats to expose other wrongdoings by members of Congress. The diary allegedly detailed some of his abusive behavior towards women and, according to a press statement by former Nevada Senator Richard Bryan, other possible criminal activity. Not withstanding public pressure for open hearings, the Senate ultimately decided against public hearings. with pressure mounting against him, Packwood finally announced his resignation from the Senate on September 7, 1995, after the Senate Ethics Committee unanimously recommended that he be expelled from the Senate for ethical misconduct.

Mel Reynolds:
A Democratic U.S. Congressman from 1993 to 1995, in August of 1994 he was indicted for sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16 year old campaign volunteer during his 1992 campaign. Despite the charges, he continued his campaign and was re-elected, with no opposition. Reynolds initially denied the charges, which he claimed were racially motivated. In August of 1995, he was convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice, and solicitation of child pornography. He resigned is seat on Congress in October of the same year. Reynolds was sentenced to five years in prison and expected to be released in 1998. However, in April of 1997, he was convicted on 15 unrelated counts of bank fraud and lying to SEC investigators. These charges resulted in an additional 78 months in federal prison. Reynolds served all of his first sentence, and served 42 months in prison for the later charges. At that point, President Bill Clinton commuted the sentence for bank fraud. However, Reynolds had never applied for presidential clemency, which is the first step to be considered in a presidential pardon. As a result, Reynolds was released from prison and served his remaining time in a halfway house.

Jack Ryan: An Illinois Republican candidate for the U.S., Senate in 2004, Ryan dropped out of the race amid allegations that he visited sex clubs with his ex-wife Jeri Ryan. The four year old allegations were in court papers and unsealed around June 2004. In them, Jeri Ryan stated that her husband took her to sex clubs and asked her to engage in sex acts in front of other people. Chicago media had sued for the release of the court documents. Jeri Ryan, who starred in the TV shows "Boston Public" and "Star Trek Voyager." She stated that she is still friends with her ex-husband, but disavows the statements she gave in the divorce papers. She also stated in the court papers that the couple went on three trips in 1998 to New Orleans, New York, and Paris, and visited sex clubs at her then husbands Jack insistence. Both the Ryan's strongly objected to the releasing of the court papers.

SEX SCANDALS OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
Heidi Fleiss: This lady ran a high-end escort service in Los Angeles. By 1993, Fleiss was the talk of Hollywood, and had some of the most beautiful women working her prostitution service, which specifically catered to the elite. She was one of the city's most prosperous madams, bringing in millions in just a couple years. However many people were jealous of her success. Fleiss had angered many people including her competition and the girls who worked for her, and they wanted to put her out of business. After the police were informed of her activities, they felt pressure to investigate. They devised a plan to shut down her business for good. Little did they know it would cause a nationwide sensation. Around April of 1993, the Los Angeles Police coordinated a elaborate plot, along with the FBI and other enforcement agencies to catch Heidi in the act of pandering. The plan involved an undercover Beverly Hills police officer and who posed as a wealthy Japanese businessman looking for an escort. The officer contacted Heidi and arranged for four girls to meet him and several colleagues at the Beverly Hills Hilton. He offered to pay $6,000 for the girls. Heidi agreed to the arrangement and sent four of her most beautiful girls, as well as 13 grams of cocaine, which was requested by the officer also. The girls had no idea what was waiting for them, as the police had the room bugged and hidden cameras installed. When the girls arrived, the undercover police appeared eager for sex, talking provocatively and watching sex videos. Eventually each girl was asked explicitly for sex. After the girls agreed, agents stormed the room and the girls were arrested. The next day the police arrested Heidi as she was taking out her garbage at her home in Beverly Hills. She faced five counts of pandering and one count of possession of narcotics. Heidi's arrest had some of Hollywood's biggest names shaking in their shoes, threatening their jobs and marriages. Heidi entered a plea of not guilty in court. After four days of deliberations, the jury found her guilty of three counts of pandering and innocent on the drug charge. Months later she was sentenced to three years in prison and fines $1500.

Jimmy Swaggart: In 1991, TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart was brought down in shame in a shocking sex scandal. But details came out on who else was involved with it. In 1986, Swaggart exposed fellow minister Marvin Gorman of having an affair with one of his parishioners. It was also reported that in 1987, Swaggart was behind exposing minister Jim Baker's involvement with a prostitute. In retaliation, Gorman hired a private detective to dig up any dirt he could on Swaggart. The detective found Swaggart at a hotel in Lake Charles Louisiana with a prostitute Debra Murphree, and took photographs. Gorman presented Swaggart with the photos to blackmail him, but Swaggart refused to pay. So Gorman presented the photos to members of the church. Unsurprisingly, Swaggart was suspended from the church for three months. On Feburary 21, 1988, Swaggart went back to the teleministries and admitted that he had sinned, without giving any details. Four days later, Debra Murphee was on a New Orleans news show and told that she had been a regular client of Swaggart. However, he never had intercourse with her, but only wanted her to undress in front of him. Then in 1991, famous TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart faced accusations that he picked up a prostitute for sex. Rosemary Garcia, a 31 year old prostitute from Indio California, said she was with Mr. Swaggart when he was stooped by the police and cited for a traffic violation. When Garcia was asked why she was with Swaggart she replied "He asked me for sex. I mean that's why he stopped me. That's what I do. I'm a prostitute". Instead of asking for forgiveness again, Swaggart told his congregation "The lord told me it's none of your business". Swaggart's son Donnie quickly stepped in to take over the ministry, and told everyone his dad was taking time off to heal. As of 1995, Swaggart ministries has been reduced by 85%, with only a handful of radio stations.


Debra Jeane Palfrey:
Dubbed "The D.C. Madam" by news media, this former paralegal and cocktail waitress operated an escort service in Washington, D.C. In 1990, she was arrested on charges of pimping, pandering, and extortion. She fled to Montana, and was captured trying to cross into Canada and brought back to trial. She was convicted in 1992 and spent 18 months in jail. In 2006, U.S. Postal Service Inspection Service, posed as a couple interested in buying Palfrey's home as a means of accessing her property without a warrant. Agents froze bank accounts worth over $500,000, and seized papers relating to money laundering and prostitution charges. According to government charges, Palfrey's service recruited escorts using a college newspaper and Washington newspaper. Her escorts charged as much as $300 per hour. She allegedly cleared some two million dollars over 13 years of operation. ABC's 20/20 did an investigation of Paltrey in May of 2007. In combination of Palfrey's statement that she had 10-15 thousand clients phone numbers, this caused several clients lawyers to contact Palfrey to see whether accommodations could be made to keep their identities private. Ultimately, ABC News, after going through what was described as phone records, decided that none of the potential clients was newsworthy to bother mentioning. In July of 2007, Palfrey released the supposed entirety of her phone records for public viewing and downloading on the Internet. Soon afterwards, Senator David Vitter acknowledged that he had been a client of the service. Also in 2007, one of Palfrey's escorts committed suicide by hanging herself. On April 15, 2008, Palfrey was found guilty of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and racketeering. She faced a maximum of 55 years in prison. On May 1, 2008, Palfrey was found hanging in a storage shed outside her mother's mobile home in Tarpon Springs Florida.

Steve Kaplan: He was the owner of a nightclub called the Atlanta Gold Club, a strip club. Kaplain made his club famous by catering to sports athletes and celebrities. The FBI was investigating the club because of Kaplain's friendship with members of the Gambino crime family. In March of 1999, the club was raided by the FBI, and the government handed down a 100 page racketeering indictment against Kaplain and 16 employees, alleging that the club was used for prostitution, illegal drug use, money laundering, extortion, credit card fraud, and tax evasion. At the trial, basketball players were called to testify which included Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Antonio Davis, Charles Oakley, and Dikembe Mutombo. The Gold Club trial ended with Kaplain pleading guilty to racketeering involving credit card fraud and prostitution and was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a 5 million dollar fine, plus $300,000 in restitution.

Sydney Biddle Barrows: She was dubbed "The Mayflower Madam" by the media, who created and ran an escort service in New York City starting in 1979. It was discovered that Barrow's came from an upper class family in Philadelphia, and also was a Mayflower descendant (The Mayflower ship brought the pilgrims from England to Massachusetts). After a short career in fashion, Barrows was introduced to the world of high-class prostitution and started her own escort service called Cachet, which was in New York from 1979 t0 1984. Unlike other escort agencies, Cachet offered classy and elegant service to the rich and powerful who either lived or visited New York City. Some of their clients were high powered business executives and lawyers, foreign diplomats, oil sheiks, and industrialist. In October of 1984, her escort business was shut down and she was charged with promoting prostitution by the District Attorney's Office. After she plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of promoting prostitution, she was fined $5,000, but received no jail time. Afterwards, she published a best selling book, "Mayflower Madam," which later became a TV movie starring Candice Bergen. She said in the book her motto was "Hire good people and pay them what they are worth". She has written two additional books on sexual etiquette, and is involved in various business ventures.

Jeffrey Epstein: He is an American financier, billionaire and philanthropist. In March of 2005, a woman contacted Palm Beach police, concerned that her daughter had been molested by a wealthy man. The daughter told police that she had been paid $300 for giving a massage to Epstein in his mansion. The girl told Epstein that she was 18 years old. He then ordered her to take off her clothes, but she left her underwear on. During the massage, Epstein had masterbated and applied a vibrator to her crotch. Police started an 11 month investigation of Epstein, followed by a search of his home. Subsequently police alleged that Epstein had paid several underage girls to perform sex acts on him. Interviews with five alleged victims and 17 witnesses under oath, phone messages, a high school transcript, and other items police found in Epstein's trash show that he knew how young the girls were. A search of Epstein's home found numerous nude photo's of young girls throughout the house, some of who had been interviewed earlier by police. Epstein had set up a system of young women recruiting other young women for his massage services, paying $200 for each referral. Two housekeepers stated to the police that Epstein would receive 2-3 massages per day when he was in Palm Beach. In May of 2006, Palm Beach Police filed a probable cause affidavit saying that Epstein would be charged with four counts of unlawful sex with minors and one count of molestation. In a police interview, one of the girls said that she had repeated lesbian sex with Epstein's friend Nadia Marcinkova in his presence. She also stated that Epstein had purchased Nadia from her family in Yugoslavia. Epstein bragged that he brought Nadia into the United States to be his "Yugoslavian sex slave." Epstein's team of lawyers included Gerald Le Lefcourt, Alan Dershawitz, and Kenneth Starr. Instead of following the advice of the police, the prosecution considered the case weak, and presented it to the grand jury. The grand jury returned only one charge of felony solicitation of prostitution, which Epstein pleaded not guilty in August of 2006. Epstein was involved in negotiations and pleaded guilty, and received 18 months in jail. In a related case, Epstein was sued by Maximilia Cordero, a male-to-female transgender model, who claimed Epstein forced her into a sexual relationship at the age of 16. Also in 2008, two other lawsuits were brought upon Epstein with claims that he recruited them for massages. Apparently these ladies were looking to make an easy buck.


I hope you enjoyed my little blog and will tell your friends about it. Take care.