Ex-Clients Testify as Heidi Fleiss’ Trial Begins

On the opening day of convicted Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss’ trial Thursday, a former National Basketball Assn. owner and the president of Nabisco’s Mexican subsidiary testified that they spent tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes that Fleiss provided.

Film and television producer Howard Shlenker, who once owned the Denver Nuggets and held a financial interest in the Houston Rockets, testified that he wrote at least five checks totaling $17,000 in 1992 for sex with women Heiss provided.

As he left the federal courthouse Downtown, Shlenker was involved in an altercation with Fox Television cameraman Steve Thorp. “We followed him down the street,” Thorp said. “He ran right at me, grabbed my camera and hit me in the stomach.”

Nabisco executive Manuel Santos, who described himself as a real estate developer from Monterrey, Mexico, testified that he wrote checks for nearly $40,000 to pay Fleiss’ prostitutes in 1992. Santos, who said he sent his private jet to pick up prostitutes at times, said he wrote other checks prosecutors had not uncovered.

Fleiss, 29, pleaded not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit tax fraud, filing a false income tax return, loan fraud and money-laundering. She was convicted on state charges of pandering in December and sentenced to three years in prison. She is free on bail while she appeals.

Two women who worked for Fleiss said prostitutes came by her home and dropped off cash in envelopes. One of the women, Kristina Wotkyns , said she flew to Paris, Greece and Las Vegas to have sex with clients, and that she gave Fleiss 40% of her earnings.

In his opening statement Thursday, Assistant U.S. Atty. Mark Holscher said that between 1991 and 1993 Fleiss “ran a massive prostitution ring that earned several hundred thousand dollars.” But she only reported $33,000 income during that time, he said.

Holscher said Fleiss failed to report at least $200,000, and that she lied on a loan application to hide the fact that she was buying her $1.6-million Benedict Canyon home with prostitution earnings.

Robert Bonner, one of Fleiss’ lawyers, said Fleiss was 25 and “quite unsophisticated” when the government claims she entered a criminal conspiracy.

Dr. Paul Fleiss, Heidi’s father, pleaded guilty in May to three felony counts of conspiring with his daughter to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by concealing her income over three years, and making false statement to federal banks. He is expected to receive four to 10 months and a $50,000 fine, the U.S. attorney’s office has said.

Leaving court Thursday, Heidi Fleiss said: “I’m scared as hell, but I’ve got to remain optimistic.”