Actor Charlie Sheen to Be Called as Fleiss Trial Witness

Charlie Sheen--star of “Platoon,” “The Three Musketeers” and other movies--will be called this weekend to testify in the federal trial of convicted Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, a federal judge ordered on Monday.

Federal prosecutors, who are trying Fleiss on tax evasion and fraud charges, would not discuss the scope of Sheen’s testimony or say whether they believe he was a client of Fleiss.

However, the actor’s lawyer, Steve Cochran, said outside the courtroom that the government has evidence that Sheen wrote Fleiss some checks, adding that “it’s fair to say the government wouldn’t be interested in him if he wasn’t” a client.

So far, two former clients--former Denver Nuggets owner Sidney Shlenker and Mexican businessman Manuel Santos--have taken the stand in the case, acknowledging that they paid Fleiss for prostitutes. Sheen, however, has issued denials through his publicist, who said that if any of the women with whom he slept had happened to be call girls, “he didn’t ask and they didn’t tell.”

The government says Fleiss, 29, made hundreds of thousands of dollars from her call girl ring and laundered the proceeds, cheated on her taxes and lied on loan applications.

Fleiss was convicted on state pandering charges in December and sentenced to three years in prison. She faces up to about five years in prison if convicted on the federal money-laundering charges.