Fraud Friday: The Hollywood Madame and her father


While Al Capone is the classic case of a gangster finally getting popped for tax evasion rather than his numerous other crimes, Heidi Fleiss is another such example. Known as the Hollywood Madame whose call girl scandal exploded in the 1990s, she was not convicted for pandering, but rather for money laundering and evading tax on hundreds of thousands of dollars by funneling cash into relatives’ savings accounts and a house that was purchased in her father’s name. Her father, a Los Feliz pediatrician, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements on loan documents. Heidi served her 37-month sentence and now lives alone in a parrot sanctuary in Pahrump, NV. (www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-01-08-me-16452-story.html)

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