Heidi Fleiss’ Attorneys Ask Judge to Dismiss Federal Charges

Claiming that Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss was unfairly targeted and the victim of illegal wiretaps, her attorneys asked a federal judge Thursday to dismiss pending charges of money laundering and tax evasion.

Robert Bonner, Fleiss’ attorney, contended that she is the only person to ever be singled out by federal authorities for violations allegedly derived from pandering. Prosecutors have treated Fleiss as if she were Al Capone because she is a woman and her case has received so much media attention--a tribute to her clientele, which reputedly included top Hollywood executives, according to a motion alleging selective prosecution.

“No male, charged and convicted of pandering in state court, has ever been given the ‘Al Capone’ treatment, of being prosecuted by the U.S. attorney’s office for tax fraud and money laundering,” Bonner wrote.

Fleiss was convicted in December in state court of pandering and is scheduled to be sentenced today. She faces between three to slightly more than eight years in prison, but could serve only 18 months if she gets credit for good behavior.

In the federal case, Bonner, former U.S. attorney for Los Angeles,

and Tom Holliday, Fleiss’ other lawyer, asked Judge Consuelo B. Marshall to suppress any evidence derived from illegal wiretaps placed on Fleiss’ phone in June, 1993.

A former FBI informant, Daniel Hanks, provided tapes of Fleiss’ phone conversations to the FBI, according to the motion. It is not known who tapped her phone, her attorneys say. Her lawyers asked that Marshall hold a hearing to determine to what extent--if any--the government’s case against Fleiss depends on illegal evidence and whether it has tainted the case.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark Holscher contended that the “motions do not have any merit.”

Last week, Fleiss’ father, Dr. Paul Fleiss, pleaded guilty to three felony counts of conspiring with his daughter to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by hiding her income over three years and making false statements to federal banks. Fleiss, 61, a prominent pediatrician, is expected to be sentenced to four to 10 months in jail and be fined $50,000. His sentencing is set for September.

The father and daughter were indicted last year by a federal grand jury. Heidi Fleiss, 29, is charged with 14 counts of money laundering, making false state-

ments on a bank loan application, making false income tax statements and conspiring to defraud the IRS of thousands of dollars. Her trial is scheduled for June 20. If convicted, she is likely to receive a sentence of between two to five years and a fine of more than $50,000.

Holscher said the government was recently approached by Heidi Fleiss’ attorneys requesting a plea bargain proposal. Holscher declined to discuss the offer. “We were unable to come to a resolution,” he said.

Fleiss has said she rejected a plea agreement in which she would have served between two years to 41 months in jail.