Socialite Sentenced in Voyeurism Case

UPDATE Nov 30, 2022 11:40 AM CST

A wealthy Connecticut socialite has been sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to voyeurism and child endangerment. Hadley Palmer, 54, could have faced a maximum of five years. Under a plea deal, she has already served 90 days in a state prison. Few details on the case have been released, but it involves the secret filming of three people, including at least one minor, in 2017, reports the Stamford Advocate. State's Attorney Paul Ferencek said during Tuesday's sentencing hearing that Hadley shared the recordings to "arouse her sexual desire and that of an unnamed third party." Hadley, daughter of a hedge fund founder, was also sentenced to 20 years of probation and will be required to register as a sex offender. She has been banned from contacting a female victim in the case for the next 30 years.

Feb 15, 2022 2:39 AM CST

Hadley Palmer, the daughter of a hedge fund founder who is in the process of divorcing her venture capitalist husband and lives in a $10 million mansion at the Connecticut seaside, must now register as a sex offender. The 53-year-old, who is often photographed at society events like charity galas and lives in the same wealthy enclave where a Kennedy cousin was accused of killing Martha Moxley, pleaded guilty last month to three counts of voyeurism and one count of child endangerment and is currently behind bars serving the minimum sentence of 90 days. She'll be sentenced in August to somewhere between that amount and a maximum of five years in prison; her plea deal also includes 20 years of probation, the Stamford Advocate reports. She was arrested Oct. 22.

Not much is known about the strange case because a judge sealed it last week, but Palmer "knowingly photographed, filmed and recorded" three people, including at least one minor, "without their knowledge or consent" between 2017 and 2018, according to a Feb. 1 ruling from a judge. She did so "under circumstances where those individuals were not in plain view, and had a reasonable expectation of privacy," the ruling continues. An 83-year-old psychologist from Greenwich, Conn., was also arrested in December in connection with the case; Dr. Jerome F. Brodlie, who specializes in treating children and adolescents, is charged with failure to report abuse, neglect, or injury of a child.

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According to the New York Times, all three victims were actually minors at the time, but just one was 15 or younger; recordings allegedly made by Palmer showed more than one minor in "intimate situations" without their knowledge. Palmer was originally charged with employing a minor in an obscene performance, a Class A felony; conspiracy to employ a minor in an obscene performance; second-degree child pornography; second-degree possession of child sexual abuse imagery; and the three counts of voyeurism and risk of injury to a child charges that remained as part of her deal. Palmer, a mother of four, filed for divorce in June 2020 from her husband of 28 years. (More Connecticut stories.)