In Letter to Judge, Fleiss Says She Was ‘Young and Stupid’

Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss, who is scheduled to be sentenced today on federal charges of tax evasion and money laundering, told the judge in a letter that she was “young and stupid and . . . wrong” when she launched her high-priced call girl ring, adding that “I will be paying for the crimes I have committed for the rest of my life.”

The expression of remorse, in which Fleiss blamed her decision to become a madam in part on her abusive relationship with her then-boyfriend Ivan Nagy, was submitted to U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall as evidence in the sentencing hearing Monday for the 31-year-old Fleiss.

But Assistant U.S. Atty. Alejandro Mayorkas argued that Fleiss bore scant resemblance to the battered, traumatized women who so frequently end up as defendants because of men who coerce them into lives of crime. And he castigated the Los Feliz pediatrician’s daughter for cheapening such suffering by trying to use it in her defense.

He said she knew what she was doing when she set up call girls with wealthy Hollywood men, one of whom--a man nicknamed “Cannibal”--paid $40,000 a date to beat them up.

Fleiss’ lawyer, Anthony Brooklier, took issue with that charge, saying Fleiss never knowingly sent call girls out to be abused. Brooklier is expected to present the case for leniency today before the sentencing.