‘Beverly Hills Madam’ Sentenced to Probation

The woman whose high-priced prostitution business earned her the nickname “Beverly Hills Madam” and whose role as a police informant kept her from being tried as a pimp was sentenced Monday to 18 months’ probation on a lesser charge.

Elizabeth Adams, 58, could have been sentenced to six years in prison had she been convicted of charges that she acted as a pimp and panderer based in her home high above the Sunset Strip. She also was accused of trying to recruit an undercover policewoman in 1988. Her network catered to Middle East sheiks and wealthy executives who sometimes flew call girls from Los Angeles to Europe or wherever else they were in the world, she has acknowledged.

But instead of being tried on the more serious charges, Adams, in a deal with the district attorney’s office, last month pleaded guilty to one felony count of sale of a person for immoral purposes.