Heidi Fleiss

 

Heidi Fleiss became famous in the 1990s as the madame of a high-class brothel in Hollywood, a favourite haunt of many stars and wealthy entrepreneurs from the entertainment world. As the owner of a little black book full of names of the rich and famous, Fleiss was notorious for some years, before being jailed on various charges, including tax evasion. On her release she publicised her plans to run a ‘Stud Farm’ in the Nevada desert, where it is legal, under certain circumstances, for prostitutes to work in brothels. However, Fleiss’ plan was to have a brothel with a difference . . .

 

Born entrepreneur

 

Heidi Lynn Fleiss was born on 30 December 1965. Her father, Doctor Paul M. Fleiss, was a famous Hollywood paediatrician who made a name for himself by publicly opposing the practise of circumcision on infants and young boys. Her family was wealthy, and she came into contact with many rich, famous people from the world of entertainment.

As a teenager, Fleiss became a babysitter and started a business hiring out herself and her friends to look after children. With her wealthy connections, she found she was earning a good living, so decided to drop out of high school in the tenth grade. At the age of 19, she went to a Beverly Hills party and met Bernie Cornfield, a famous financier. She fell in love with him, and the couple began dating, even though he was 40 years her senior. She later said that she was attracted to his intelligence: ‘He was this genius in so many ways . . . he was always trying to make me a better person and make me understand things.’ Despite her enthusiasm for her new lover, the affair did not last and she found herself single again.

At the age of 22 Fleiss met another influential figure in her life – Madame Alex – a well-known brothel keeper in Hollywood. She was surprised to find that, far from being elegant and beautiful, Madame Alex was short, bald and not at all glamorous. However, she joined forces with her and was soon running the business for her new employer. Heidi found all sorts of ways to revamp the enterprise; for example, instead of employing the same girls year after, she used new prostitutes, thus making sure that the clientele had a variety of girls at their disposal. She also brought in young women that she had met as part of her social circle, as well as through Bernie Cornfield. Within a matter of months, according to Fleiss, the earnings of the business shot up from around $50,000 a month to $300,000.

 

Top call-girl ring

 

Despite the obvious success of the business, it was not long before Fleiss and Madame Alex fell out. Fleiss claims that Madame Alex did not pay her fairly, and did not value her managerial acumen highly enough. So, instead, Fleiss moved on to launch her own call-girl ring, with a stable of girls who became the most sought after in Hollywood.

Fleiss took her work seriously and went to great lengths to find out the fantasies of all her clients, and to match them to the right women with the right wardrobe and accessories. She even arranged travel and payment details, as well as booking accommodation. For this, she earned a handsome salary. She went on record for her refusal to accept that her earnings were immoral in any way, saying, ‘I think it’s unfair men put laws on a woman’s body. I think a woman has a right to choose with her own body. I don’t think prostitution is a career . . . but maybe it is a little stepping stone.’ She added: ‘I don’t regret what I did at all. It’s consensual sex. These are men who are billionaires and these are women in their 20s. They are old enough to make adult decisions, adult choices.’

In Fleiss’ eyes she was providing a service and helping her employees to meet the right men, who would possibly advance their careers in the entertainment industry.

 

Prison sentence

 

In 1993 Fleiss was arrested as part of an undercover operation to root out prostitution in Hollywood. Not surprisingly, some individuals on her extensive client list came to light, causing a scandal that rocked Tinseltown. One of the most prominent of her clients was the actor Charlie Sheen. Later, Sheen became known as a ‘living legend of sex’ after he claimed that he had had sex with five girls at once.

‘It was very organised,’ he commented. ‘Very ordered. All six people in that room came out of it pretty satisfied.’ Sheen also claimed to have had sex with a total of 5000 women. Naturally, with such a busy schedule, the services of a well-organised madame such as Heidi Fleiss would have been invaluable to him.

Despite her protestations of innocence, Fleiss was brought to trial on federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and money laundering. She was also charged with attempted pandering, a type of pimping. She was convicted of the charges and received a prison sentence of 37 months, although she only served 21. Many commentators were outraged by the severity of her sentence, especially as none of her clients or employees were charged. Her father, Doctor Fleiss, was also convicted of money laundering and sentenced to serve one day in prison, as well as three years of probation and over 600 hours community service.

 

The Stud Farm

 

On her release from prison in 1999, Fleiss made the most of her new-found notoriety, and began a series of commercial enterprises. One of these was a line of clothing called Heidi Wear; another involved selling sex aids. She appeared regularly on television to talk about her experiences, and was interviewed in many leading newspapers and magazines. She then announced her intention to open a stud farm in the Nevada desert, where in some areas brothel keeping is a legal activity, subject to state scrutinisation of the operation. The proposed brothel was due to be located about an hour’s drive away from Las Vegas. Instead of offering the sexual services of women to male clients, the brothel would offer an array of handsome men to provide sex for women.

Fleiss’ vision of this pleasure palace was that it would be shaped like a castle, with marble-floored rooms, a spa, a sex-toy shop and secluded bungalows for love play to take place. The men she proposed hiring would be handsome, physically fit with a muscled physique, charming and well-mannered. They would also be issued with generous amounts of Viagra to cope with up to ten female clients a day, some of them not in their first youth or in good shape physically. In return, the women clients would pay a fee of around 250 dollars an hour.

 

Dirty Laundry

 

As Fleiss has admitted, the obstacles to launching the stud farm remain daunting. State laws require all prostitutes to have regular cervical STD tests, which obviously in the case of the stud farm would not apply. The statutes will need to be reworded to cover Fleiss’ stud farm operation. In addition, Fleiss faces considerable opposition from other brothel keepers in the area, who are worried that adverse publicity will ruin their business. Already her business partner, a successful Nevada brothel owner, has backed out of the project. Funding for the palace of sin, which will require around $1.5 million, is also lacking at present. However, Fleiss remains optimistic. She claims to have received over 1,000 applications from men who wish to work at the farm, including former soap opera stars and Hollywood actors. She also says that a number of wealthy, beautiful women have contacted her to arrange appointments. Fleiss maintains that her idea is ‘perfect for bachelorette parties or for women wanting uncomplicated, STD-free hook-ups’.

At present, the stud farm is set only to cater for women, not for men. Interestingly, some gay men have asked for a legal opinion as to whether the brothel would be violating discrimination laws by letting only women use the stud farm’s services. In response, Fleiss has suggested the opening of a separate gay brothel.

Despite these grand ideas, to date, plans for the stud farm have foundered. Instead, Fleiss has opened a laundromat named ‘Dirty Laundry’, a far more modest enterprise than her fantasy of a luxury bordello in the desert. She also sells sex aids in her ‘Little Shop of Sex’ in Los Angeles, and over the Internet. However, Fleiss continues to insist that one day the stud farm will be a reality, and the media continues to watch her activities and listen to her opinions with interest.