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Notorious Lives

Sydney Barrows

Ada Everleigh.

Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives

Heidi Fleiss

by Alice Myers

American madam and panderer

Also known as: Heidi Lynne Fleiss (full name); Hollywood Madam

Major offenses: Conspiracy, tax evasion, money laundering, and attempted pandering

Active: 1990-1993

Locale: Los Angeles, California

Sentence: Thirty-seven months in federal prison; concurrent eighteen months for attempted pandering in state prison; served three years

Early Life

Heidi Lynn Fleiss (flis) was born to schoolteacher Elissa Fleiss and Dr. Paul Fleiss, a prominent pediatrician. Her happy childhood included summer camping trips throughout the United States. At thirteen, Fleiss ran a successful neighborhood baby-sitting service which employed twenty babysitters. She dropped out of school in the tenth grade. At nineteen, Fleiss met millionaire financier Bernie Cornfeld, who offered her a job as his secretary. They began dating in spite of a forty-year age difference. Their romantic relationship ended when Fleiss was twenty-three, but Cornfeld remained her close friend and mentor until his death in 1995.

Criminal Career

When Fleiss was twenty-two, she met Madam Alex (Elizabeth Adams), a brothel owner who catered to prominent and wealthy clientele. Madam Alex needed an assistant to help run her business. After working briefly as a prostitute, Fleiss became the assistant madam for Madam Alex. Fleiss restructured the business, hiring new and younger women, including women she had met through Cornfeld. Profits soared, and the business went from $50,000 to $300,000 per month in gross receipts. Clients included actors, producers, royalty, business tycoons, and some of the world’s wealthiest men.

Fleiss felt that Madam Alex underpaid her and in 1990 left to launch her own elite prostitution service. Her new business made its first million dollars in five months, and Fleiss became known as the Hollywood Madam. She developed an international reputation and regularly sent her prostitutes to rich and powerful clients in other countries. Her business flourished, with fees ranging from $1,500 to $10,000 or more per customer.

Legal Action and Outcome

In June, 1993, Fleiss was arrested for pandering and selling cocaine. On December 2, 1994, the state grand jury found Fleiss innocent of the narcotics charge but guilty on three of five counts of pandering. On July 28, 1994, a federal grand jury indicted her on fourteen counts of conspiracy, income tax evasion, and money laundering. In August, 1995, a federal jury convicted Fleiss on eight of the fourteen counts.

Fleiss was sentenced to thirty-seven months in a minimum-security federal prison. As part of a plea bargain, she received a concurrent state sentence of eighteen months for attempted pandering. She served three years and was released from the Dublin, California, federal penitentiary in September, 1999.

Impact

Heidi Fleiss became the most famous panderer or madam in history. The revelation of her service for some of the world’s wealthiest, most famous, and most powerful men created an international scandal. After her imprisonment, her notoriety continued to grow, as the news media covered her latest projects and relationships. She became a talk-show host, appeared on television interview shows, and opened a boutique in Hollywood. In 2001, Fleiss made a sex tips video with actor Victoria Sellers. Fleiss started her own publishing company, One Hour Entertainment, which published her successful autobiography, Pandering, in 2002. In December, 2005, Fleiss solidified plans for opening in Nevada Heidi’s Stud Farm, the first legal brothel in the United States featuring male prostitutes who serve a female clientele.

Further Reading

1 

Fleiss, Heidi. Pandering. Los Angeles: One Hour Entertainment, 2002. This autobiography uses unique visuals and a bold, nontraditional format to tell Fleiss’s story. The pages include court transcripts, newspaper clippings, address books, photographs, personal items, and art.

2 

_______. The Player’s Handbook: The Ultimate Guide on Dating and Relationships. Los Angeles: One Hour Entertainment, 2004. An entertaining how-to guide covering topics such as developing self-esteem and committed relationships.

3 

Hornberger, Francine. Mistresses of Mayhem: The Book of Women Criminals. Indianapolis: Alpa, 2002. Includes a biography of Fleiss. Illustrated. Index and bibliography.

4 

Knappman, Edward. Sex, Sin, and Mayhem: Notorious Trials of the ’90’s. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1995. Detailed accounts of sensational court dramas, including Heidi Fleiss’s trials, are presented. Illustrated.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
Myers, Alice. "Heidi Fleiss." Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, Salem Press, 2007. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLN_1205.
APA 7th
Myers, A. (2007). Heidi Fleiss. In C. L. Bankston III (Ed.), Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Myers, Alice. "Heidi Fleiss." Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2007. Accessed September 17, 2026. online.salempress.com.